Life in prison for stealing bread?

Five years for what he did! The rest because he tried to run, yes 24601!

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I am surprised that this question is even asked. This could easily happen in American society today! Ask any black man! Geez, they even try and go after kids and try them as adults so they can put them away early. And of course like Valjean, once they got you convicted and in jail--wrongly--anyone with any pride or temper or desire to be free is like as not to provide them with more reasons to keep them in prison. Once you get out, then as now your life is over and only the lucky can overcome this perpetual stain.

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That just drove me nuts the whole film. At a certain point I was just dying for Valjean to confront Javert and say to him "for pity's sakes, I stole a loaf of bread 30 goddamn years ago, can we all just MOVE ON please?" If he had been a rapist or murderer or something, THEN I could understand, but a bread thief? For crying out loud...

EDIT: I just read the other comments on this thread explaining that his sentence was originally much shorter (though still far too long for stealing bread) but extended due to escape attempts. That makes sense, but they should have made that clear in the film.

Also, the way women are treated in this story, can somebody with an idea of relevant history clarify that does the story reflect 19th century french society and law accurately? If it does, man has certainly evolved more in last 100 years then in previous 1000.

It's not about evolution at all. People's attitudes don't just automatically "evolve" with the passage of time, but adapt to changing political, economic and social conditions. Women's rights have improved because of conscious political struggle, and the escalating pace of that political struggle in the last couple centuries is due in large part to the changes in society resulting from the industrial revolution and the transition from feudalism. So it's not evolution but revolution. You'll notice that, as a rule, it's the countries with the highest levels of economic development that have the highest rates of gender equality, while countries at a lower level of economic development tend to have a lower rate of gender equality*.

* Although Western racists love to exploit this to make a propaganda point about the "superiority" of "Western civilization" and the "inferiority" of "non-Western civilizations" (particularly the Muslim world, which is Westerners' favorite target right now), as you pointed out it's only very recently that the West has even made any progress in this area, which makes all the racist smugness directed at Muslims and everyone else by the West look pretty ridiculous in addition to obscene.

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
- Voltaire

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You have to put it in context of the times all over Europe. In fact, France was more "civilized" than most of Europe and indeed the world. Those were bad times for the peasants of society. If you didn't die from fighting some rich man's war, you might die of starvation or disease. Women were treated as property for child bearing and sexual purposes. The rich gave no mercy for the poor and punishments were brutal. In England you could lose your head or be put on the front lines of warfare for violating the "accepted way".

So yes, it was brutal back then, not just in France but all over the so-called world. If you think about it some things haven't changed. Having marijuana seeds in your ash tray in Texas can get you 20 years imprisonment. Wars are still fought by the poor on behalf of the rich. We just don't get the truth by the MSM and if you question the "system" you shunned as un-patriotic or worse.



***********************************
My favorite: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

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The French at the time were notorious for having a person-destroying legal system and a prisoner-destroying penal system. They did not accept the excuse that a person was starving or if they were being attacked in prison. The suffering in their mind was justified because they thought it would bring perfection in the person's moral character.

Kay: Senators and presidents don't have men killed.
Michael: Oh, who's being naive, Kay?

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Really, we've evolved? Marital rape was legal in the US within the last 50 years. And today, the sentence for being a black child in a park is immediate execution.

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