Dylan Hernandez

Some situations just feel Hopeless, like there’s nothing you can do but put your head down and accept it, this is what “Look Down” is. In the musical Les Miserables, the song takes place around the time of the French revolution. It was a chaotic time in which France went back and forth between kingdom, republic, and even empire at one point. Ordinary people were caught in that chaos. These people were arrested for crimes that they may or may not have committed. If that wasn’t bad enough, they were forced into labor for the French government, and that is where the hopelessness comes in, pulling a destroyed French ship into harbor that signified the ruin of old France. Most have given up all hope, but some wonder aloud if their wife would wait for them, or if God could hear them only for the other inmates to tell them to keep looking down. Then, after 19 years, the main character, Jean Valjean, is suddenly told he could go, but he would forever be a criminal in the world’s eyes. Overall, as a history nerd, I’d say that this was amazing, and really captures the emotions of the rest of the Musical/Movie. Personally I love the chorus of every singing the “look down”, and the rhythm of that was really good at opening a movie/musical such as Les Miserables.