SCENE 1: PROLOGUE
EXT: DAWN
[All the convicts are brought into a musty court yard off the prison, and are forced to dig and break apart rocks. About twenty prison guards are behind them, whipping them as they work ]
[All the convicts were dressed the same; tan muslin tunics, baggy trousers that are cut off and seedy at they knees, barefoot. The more dirtier they look tells how many years they have been locked up in this prison of hell.]
[They are all connect to each other by thick chains; each chain between them no more than five feet in length. Each link of the chain equaling nearly ten pounds each]
CHORUS
[chipping away at boulder like rocks with hammers near breaking.]
Look down, look down
Don't look 'em in the eye.
Look down, look down
You're here until you die.
1ST CONVICT
[an elderly convict who is very frail, and skinny. The elderly convict is embittered with angst and hatred]
The sun is strong;
it's hot as hell below.
EXT: MID MORNING
CHORUS
[chipping away at boulder like rocks with hammers near breaking.]
Look down, look down
There's twenty years to go.
[what appears to the a teenager, but the hardship of the labor endured as aged him beyond identifying. Like the first convict he is embittered with angst and hate, but is naive as to what crime her permitted. Thinking about what he did to end up in the prison, he stops working and stares off into space ]
[ the prison guard assigned to watch him; hits him with the carbine of her rifle ]
[ the young convict falls to the ground; as quickly as he falls her gets back up, looks behind him, and goes back to work ]
[ the same prison guard backs up after seeing that he has knocked sense into the convict ]
2ND CONVICT
I've done no wrong
Sweet Jesus hear my prayer.
EXT: NOON
CHORUS
[chipping away at boulder like rocks with hammers near breaking.]
Look down, look down
Sweet Jesus doesn't care.
[a convict, like the 2nd convict, the 3rd convict stares off into space thinking about his loved one back at home ]
[ the prison guard assigned to watch him; hits him with the carbine of her rifle ]
[ the young convict falls to the ground; as quickly as he falls her gets back up, and goes back to work]
[ the same prison guard backs up after seeing that he has knocked sense into the convict ]
3RD CONVICT
I know she'll wait
I know that she'll be true.
EXT: AFTER NOON
CHORUS
[chipping away at boulder like rocks with hammers near breaking.]
Look down, look down
They've all forgotten you.
[a middle aged convict; He is confident that everyday is closer to his freedom ]
4TH CONVICT
When I get free
You won't see me
'Ere for dust.
[the convicts line up, getting ready to go back to their prison cells for the day ]
EXT: DUSK
CHORUS
[chipping away at boulder like rocks with hammers near breaking.]
Look down, look down
Don't look 'em in the eye.
[another elderly convict, much younger than the first, who looks up to the sky for an answer ]
5TH CONVICT
How long, O Lord
Before you let me die?
EXT: TWILIGHT
[the convicts stop in there place as a higher officer appears ]
CHORUS
[Their axes, hammers, and picks slung over their shoulders.]
Look down, look down
You'll always be a slave
Look down, look down,
You're standing in your grave
[Javert goes up to one of the Prison guards ]
JAVERT
Now bring me prisoner 24601
Your time is up
and you parole's begun
[ A Constable brings Prisoner 24601 to Javert ]
You know what that means
PRISONER 24601
[He is a convict who has served nineteen years in Toulon’s prison]
Yes, it means I'm free.
JAVERT
[ scoffs ]
No! it means you get
you yellow ticket-of-leave;
You are a thief!
PRISONER 24601
[ Clenches his fist ]
I stole a loaf of bread.
JAVERT
You robbed a house!
PRISONER 24601
I broke a window pane.
[ 24601 pleads to Javert ]
My sisters' child was close to death
And we were starving.
JAVERT
You'll starve again
Unless you learn the meaning of the law.
PRISONER 24601
I know the meaning of those 19 years
A slave of the law.
JAVERT
Five years for what you did
The rest was because you tried to run.
Yes, 24601
PRISONER 24601
My name is Jean Valjean!
JAVERT
And I'm Javert!
Do not forget my name
Do not forget my name
24601
CHORUS
Look down, look down
You'll always be a slave
Look down, look down,
You're standing in your grave.
[ Valjean walks out of the gated community which is the Toulon Prison, with the yellow ticket-of-leave in his hand, into the night ]
EXT: NIGHT:
VALJEAN
[ Valjean stares at the ground ]
Freedom is mine. The earth is still.
[ He clutches the yellow ticket ]
I fell the wind. I breath again.
[ he looks up at the parting clouds over the rising sun ]
And the sky clears
The world is waking
[ he runs to a stream near by, and a takes a long awaited drink ]
Drink from the pool.
[ he stares at his hands ]
How clean the taste.
[ he turns around to look at the Toulon Prison ]
Never forget the years, the waste.
Nor forgive them
For what they've done
They are the guilty - everyone.
[ He looks at the rising sun ]
The day beings ...
[ He starts to walk at a fast but steady pace ]
And now let's see
What this new world
Will do for me!
CUT TO:
EXT: DAWN THE NEXT DAY
[ Valjean finds work on a farm ]
FARMER
You'll have to go
I'll pay you off for the day
Collect your bits and pieces there
And be on you way.
VALJEAN
You have given me half
What the other men get
This handful tin
Wouldn't buy my sweat!
[a laborer near Valjean who looks up from his work]
LABOURER
[ astonished ]
You broke the law
It's there for people to see
Why should you get the same
As honest mean like me?
[Valjean walks off ]
VALJEAN
Now every door is closed to me
Another jail. Another key. Another chain.
For when I come to any town
They check my papers
And they find the mark of Cain.
In their eyes
I see their fear
'We do not want you hear.'
EXT: DUSK
[ Valjean comes up to an inn ]
[ Valjean knocks on the front door, and the innkeeper's wife comes out with a look of dismay in her eyes ]
INNKEEPER'S WIFE
[ dismay ]
My rooms are full
And I've no supper to spare
I'd like to help a stranger
All we want is to be fair.
VALJEAN
[ pleads ]
I will pay in advance
I can sleep in a barn
You see how dark it is
I'm not some kind of dog.
[ The innkeeper comes up to his wife, and pulls her out of the way; confronting Valjean ]
INNKEEPER
You leave my house!
Or feel the weight of my rod.
We're law abiding people here
Thanks be to God.
[ The innkeeper throws Valjean out of the inn ]
[ Valjean keeps walking down the street ]
VALJEAN
And now I know how freedom feels
The jailer always at your heels
It is the law!
This piece of paper in my hand
That makes me cursed throughout the land
It is the law!
Like a cur
I walk the street,
The dirt beneath their feet ...
EXT: NIGHT
[ Valjean arrives in the city of Digne ]
[ Valjean, Disconsolate, he sits down outside the Bishop of Digne's House ]
[ The elderly Bishop of Digne walks out of the house to see Valjean on his steps; he uses his cane to prod Valjean in the back ]
[ Valjean turns around ]
BISHOP OF DIGNE
Come in sir, for you are weary
[ The Bishop leads Valjean into the house ]
INT: Bishop’s House
And the night is cold out there
Though our lives are very humble;
[ The Bishop leads Valjean to a table full of food]
What we have, we have to share
There is wine here to revive you.
There is bread to make you strong.
There's a bed to rest 'til morning.
Rest from pain, and rest from wrong.
VALJEAN
[ Valjean thinks to himself while eating]
He let me eat my fill.
I had the lion's share.
[ he looks at the silverware in his hard ]
The silver in my hand
Cost twice what I had earned
[ He lays in the bed the Bishop provided, staring at the ceiling, in his mind talking to himself]
In all those nineteen years -
[ He has flashbacks of his time in the Toulon Prison ]
That life-time of despair
[ The Flashbacks end ]
[ Valjean sits up in the bed ]
And yet he trusted me -
The old fool trusted me -
He done his bit of good
[ He has another flashback of himself bowing and thanking the Bishop ]
I played the grateful serf
and thanked him like I should.
[ The Flash back ends ]
[ Valjean crawls out of the bed ]
But when the house was still
I got up in the night
[ Valjean raids the cabinets of the silverware ]
Took the silver
[ Valjean bolts out of door into the dead of night]
Took my flight!
CUT TO:
INT: Bishop’s House
[ This Bishop is awoken in the middle of the night by two Constables knocking harshly on his door ]
[ The Bishop opens the door ]
[ A Constable roughly pushes Valjean forward ]
[ Valjean puts his hands on the ground ]
CONSTABLE 1
Tell his reverence your story
[ The second Constable whacks Valjean in the back with a rod ]
[ Valjean lowers is head ]
CONSTABLE 2
Let us see if he's impressed
CONSTABLE 1
You were lodging here last night
[ Valjean nods ]
CONSTABLE 2
You were the honest Bishop's guest.
And then, out of Christian goodness
When he learned about your plight
[ The first Constables opens Valjean's bag to reveal the stolen silver ]
CONSTABLE 1
You maintain he made a present of this silver.
[ A Constable is about to valjean with the rod, but is stopped by the Bishop ]
BISHOP
That is right.
[ The Bishop turns to Valjean ]
But my friend you left so early
Surely something slipped your mind
[ The Bishop goes over to the dinner table ]
[ Valjean watches; curious ]
[ The Bishop comes back and gives Valjean the two silver candlestick holders from the table]
You forgot I gave these also
[ Valjean looks at the candlestick holders in his hands; his head jolted up to look at Bishop ]
Would you leave the best behind?
[ The Bishop turns to the Constables ]
So, Messieurs, you may release him
[ he waves a hand in Valjean’s direction ]
For this man has spoken true
[ he opens the front door for the Constables]
I commend you for your duty
And God's blessing go with you.
[ The Constables leave. The Bishop addresses Valjean; and removes the hood from his head]
But remember this, my brother
See in this some higher plan
[ he takes the silver candlestick holders from Valjean's hands and puts them into the nap sack Valjean had at his feet ]
You must use this precious silver
To become an honest man
By the witness of the martyrs
By the Passion and the Blood
God has raised you out of darkness
I have bought your soul for God!
[ The Bishop lead Valjean outside and shuts the door ]
SCENE 2: VALJEAN’S SOLILOQUY
EXT: NIGHT
VALJEAN
[ Valjean walks ,Northwest, on the dirt road out of Digne ]
[ his head titled downwards to the ground ]
[ his nap sack slung over his right shoulder ]
What have I done?
Sweet Jesus, what have I done?
Become a thief in the night,
Become a dog on the run
And have I fallen so far,
And is the hour so late
That nothing remains but the cry of my hate,
The cries in the dark that nobody hears,
Here where I stand at the turning of the years?
If there's another way to go
I missed it twenty long years ago
My life was a war that could never be won
They gave me a number and murdered Valjean
When they chained me and left me for dead
Just for stealing a mouthful of bread
[ Valjean stopped mid stride ]
Yet why did I allow that man
To touch my soul and teach me love?
He treated me like any other
He gave me his trust
He called me brother
My life he claims for God above
[ he felt, with his left hand, the two silver candlestick holders in his nap sack ]
Can such things be?
For I had come to hate the world
This world that always hated me
[ he started to walk again, not running, but faster than before ]
Take an eye for an eye!
Turn your heart into stone!
This is all I have lived for!
This is all I have known!
[ he stopped; turned around; and faced the city of Digne, which was now far in the distant ]
One word from him and I'd be back
Beneath the lash, upon the rack
Instead he offers me my freedom
I feel my shame inside me like a knife
He told me that I have a soul,
How does he know?
What spirit comes to move my life?
Is there another way to go?
[ he looks down into the moonlight's reflection in a puddle ]
I am reaching, but I fall
And the night is closing in
And I stare into the void
[ a frog jumps into the puddle, and out again, creating ripples in the water ]
To the whirlpool of my sin
[ he pulls his yellow ticket of leave out of his pocket on his wool frock ]
I'll escape now from the world
[ he stares at the ticket ]
From the world of Jean Valjean
[The sun rises at dawn]
Jean Valjean is nothing now
Another story must begin!
[ He tears up his yellow ticket-of-leave.]