Les Misérables follows the life of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) who is released from a 19-year sentence and has to try to find a new life after losing two decades in hard slave-work. But Valjean can never rest easy for Javert (Russell Crowe) is always on his heels reminding him that once a criminal always a criminal. In the eyes of Javert a man like Valjean deserves no second chance and will always be a thief. The conflict of redemption hope and how tiny good deeds can redeem a man and change people is played against the background of the June Rebellion (1832) a student-led revolution against the monarchy.