The brilliant new film Les Misérables doesn’t have heroes and villains like the musical of the same name but the universal themes of humanity and the abuse of power which sear through its plot — as gripping, if not more, than any action movie — are also central to Victor Hugo’s 19th-century novel.

Hugo set his novel in Montfermeil, where Les Misérables takes place and where rioting in 2005 caught fire, leaving two dead and destruction in its wake...