AllMovie

As can be gathered by its title, the Mexican Los Miserables is still another adaptation of Victor Hugo's mammoth novel Les Miserables. At 103 minutes, it is also one of the shortest versions of the Hugo classic, telling its complex, multicharactered story with admirable precision and economy. Dominguo Soler plays the unfortunate Jean Valjean, who after serving a long prison sentence for stealing a loaf of bread is hounded by obsessive police inspector Javert (Antonio Bravo). Once he comes to realize that the whole world isn't against him, Valjean starts life anew as a prosperous merchant, but this tranquility is shattered by the diligent Javert, who intends to throw Valjean back in jail for violating parole. The ironic finale is both imaginitively and satisfying staged by director Fernando Rivero. The film's only real shortcoming is the impossibly hammy performance of Antonio Bravo as Javert--though as Charles Laughton and Robert Newton proved in other adaptations of Les Miserables, the role is virtually impossible to play in a subtle, sophisticated manner.