The title is the description of those viewing it, perhaps. Was this a good film? It’s an OK film. It’s very literal: extreme close up shots of the actors as the sing during the take, so we see their nostrils and bulging eyeballs. A scene in which the heroes are drenched with sewage, so only the whites of their eyes are visible. I wanted to laugh but it was too sad.
Hugh Jackman does a remarkable job of playing Jean Valjean. The storyline was so abbreviated it was hard to understand why Javert was so raveningly bent on apprehending this one man. Helpful here to recollect The Reign of Terror and the cruel justice administered by Robespierre, which Javert represented. He was a slumboy himself, and resented Valjean’s strength and moral enlightenment.
The issues of mercy vs. justice, of sacrifice and repentance make a serviceable but obscured scaffold to tell the story of the injustices and sufferings of the French underclass as the country struggles to create a society that truly embodies its motto.
I see operas, I am tolerant of bombastic and awkward narratives. It was helpful to me remind myself that this was popular music, voices not classically trained, nor intended to be so.
The opera’s ending, with the death of Valjean after all his sacrifices, reminds us that present freedoms are paid for with past blood and treasure given. I really don’t see why he couldn’t have lived to see his grandchildren. And Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway, disappears so quickly from the movie. Russell Crowe, at his best a wooden actor, is a wooden soldier here. His character commits suicide because he cannot accept mercy; to do so would be to admit his wrongful life of judgment and enforcement. Of course, it’s the death of monarchical systems, too.
The music and lyrics are all lush and expressive, urgent and fervent songs about feelings.
I think the book might be worth reading; a more interesting moral exposition.
“...harmonic mush...The director is Tom Hooper, fresh from “The King’s Speech,” and you can’t help wondering if this shift into grandeur has confused his sense of scale. The camera soars on high, the orchestra bellows, and then, whenever somebody feels a song coming on, we are hustled in close, forsaking our bird’s-eye view for that of a consultant rhinologist.” - Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
“...We’re all familiar with the experience of seeing movies that cram ideas and themes down our throats. Les Misérables may represent the first movie to do so while also cramming us down the throats of its actors: plodding...four-square rhythms...sonic sludge...tuneless...bombastic...maudlin...gimmicky...Les Misérables is a long, windy, thematically repetitive musical; if you didn’t understand a plot point or get to hear quite enough of a favorite song, just sit tight and it’ll come back soon.” - Dana Stevens, Slate Magazine
“...It’s also gorgeously filmed, almost perfectly acted and one of the most emotionally devastating and gratifying movies I’ve ever seen.” Joy Tipping, Dallas Morning News
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