Les Miserables

Ratings: 9.5/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Drama (Musical)

The plot behind the famous musical Les Miserables spans around a few decades of the life of Jean Valjean, who was a strong-willed slave, an altruistic mayor and a loving father. Set in 19-century France, a huge part of Les Miserables was about the French Revolution, and as the name suggests, it's a depressingly tragic musical. 

Perhaps it's because it's so tragic, it's heartfelt, and it brings the audience much closer to being part of the story. Musical remakes like Mama Mia (Funny) and The Phantom of The Opera (Dark, Romance) is of a different genre and though the latter was classy and well made, I felt so much more for the characters in Les Miserables. Like a man I will say this, I almost cried. 

Hugh Jackman should really have won the Oscar for this. He had such strong on-screen presence and such credible portrayal of his character that I no longer saw him as Hugh Jackman, but as the "Jesus-like" Jean Valjean. 

The star studded cast include Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter. Of course there's also other great casts, but they're fairly unknown to me, and furthermore, there were too many characters in this movie so most of them only had minor roles, except for those mentioned. 

In fact, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried didn't have much screen time either, but they did good whatever they were given. Anne Hathaway kick started the classic Les Miserables main theme song in an unforgettable grubby and grief-stricken upclose scene of her. Because she wasn't given much screen time, I thought she didn't have to make such a huge sacrifice in having to actually cut her hair short. 

As for Amanda Seyfried, her fair skin tone changed the mood of the scenes whenever she was featured... bringing a "lighter" side of hope in the already depressingly hopeless film. I doubt any CG was done or if that was one of the intended purpose of casting her but it worked like a charm. 

As for Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, they were the crafty, mendacious couple who would pop out here and there to inject some form of light-heartedness. Sacha Baron Cohen has really mellowed down his acting, considering his characters are always so "loud" and attention seeking in his other films, Borat, Bruno, The Dictator and even Madagascar. And Helena Bonham Carter gave her usual uique not-from-this-world persona. 

As for Russell Crowe, he's also one of the reasons why the movie is such a huge success. I think the main success of the film goes out to Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. I'm now made a fan of his, even his performance as the talented John Nash in A Beautiful Mind didn't move me (but the movie was real good). There was something about his demeanour which fits his role exceptional well. 

*major spoilers ahead*

And now finally, for the plot itself. Much of it is about the grace of God. I'm sure Christians will love this, because it glorifies God's grace tactfully. Jean Valjean made a small mistake once, of stealing bread to save his sister's son. And because of that, he was imprisoned into slavery, and through the grace of a bishop, learned to put his faith in God and to bring honor to his grace. He became a changed man entirely, doing only good and helping those around him... But because of his past, and of the inspector (Russell Crowe) who hunts him, he is always on the run. 

It is because of Jean Valjean, and the people he comes across whose lives he will help, that is the basis of Les Miserables. He is the fixer, and the saviour of most. Therefore, I commented that he was "Jesus-like". But it wasn't entirely about him. It was also about the determined love of a mother (Anne Hathaway) and a just yet blinded inspector (Russell Crowe). 

It was not until Hugh Jackman spared Russell Crowe's life, and a few other catalyst scenes which he finally saw the light. He too believes strongly in God's will, but was on the other side of the mirror and who obstinately believes that Jean Valjean is a bad person because of his past. 

It just tells us that one shouldn't harp on the past, and the past doesn't make the person, the present does. 

Les Miserables is about hope, redemption, and unconditional love. 

Think of it like a 3 act movie, Act 1 with Jean Valjean becoming a better man, Act 2 where he finds a little girl whom he will raise as his own, and Act 3 where he brings happiness to the daughter he so loves. 

What comes around goes around, if you spread love, you will receive love... as was depicted in a scene where he and the younger girl ended up in a courtyard whilst trying to run away from the police. 

What I also liked about the movie, was that the main cast has their own trademark songs. Mother and Daughter has the classic theme song tagged to them, and the cunning couple has their own upbeat song as well. As for the 2 protagonists, they don't really have their own songs per se, but everything they sing with their voices in it, sounds so characteristic of them. 

And finally, for the "Act 3" scene, there's the catchy "color" song. 

Though it has a miserable storyline, it was such a delight to watch this musical come to the big screens because I never would have thought it was that good (I watched the musical once when I was very young but remembered nothing of it, actually I don't even know if it's a false memory). It changed my perception of musicals, stubbornly thinking that The Phantom of the Opera was the best, little did I know that there's another, probably other equally first-class musicals like this one and the former. 

Easily one of my favourite and most memorable films.