Les Miserables

Promised the daughter that we will go and watch a movie before the school holidays ended. There were so many movies showing on that day the 31st December. So as a compromise we narrowed the choices down to The Hobbit, Life of Pi and Les Miserables. My first preference was Life of Pi directed by Ang Lee. Unfortunately, the screening time for that movie at the Sunway Pyramid TGV cinemas did not fit into our itinerary. Our plan was to have lunch, do a bit of shopping and then catch the movie and to be leaving for home before the evening traffic jam started.

The screening time for Les Miserables was 2:20 PM, ideally dovetailed into our program. I am never a big fan of musicals or period costumes. This genre of performance art is just not my thing. Why would a normal person sing instead of speak when interacting and communicating with another being? It seems so contrived and ridiculous. I can accept if the characters in the movie break out into an occasional song or dance when the scene calls for it. But singing throughout the entire film? Well, to keep my end of the bargain I supposed I could endure 2 hours of boredom. Hopefully the big bucket of popcorn would keep me from dozing off zzzzz………..

Man, was I pleasantly surprised. Not only did I didn't doze off but I was wide awake with eyes glued to the screen.

The acting was superb. I am already a big fan of Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. The dark oppressive cinematographic scenes were so realistic that subconsciously it made you wonder if you had time traveled back to the 19th Century France. The cold winter, the squalid living conditions, the cruelty, the poverty, hunger, misery and anger… the scenes were so vividly real that you could immerse into the images.  The ravages of life were so fragile and precarious then. The poor and sick were treated with contempt. In that savage world human dignity and rights were non-existence. As the film title Les Miserables suggest it was a dark miserable world.

The story unfolds at a fast and furious pace. It has suspense, actions, comedy, romance and rousing revolutionary uprising. However, the most emotional and memorable scene of the movie is undoubtedly when Fantine sang the heart wrenching song “I dreamed a dream”. The young single mother was victimized and thrown out of her job. Left destitute and all alone in the cold cruel world she was driven in desperation to prostitution in the vain hope that her young child may survive. Anne Hathaway’s rendition of the song was deeply emotional, sad, soul searching, heart breaking and yet so powerful and hauntingly beautiful. Simply unforgettable and it kept playing in my head long after the movie has ended.

The romance part of the movie though was typically cheesy. The stereotype clique of boy met girl and love at first sight kind of mush. It may be unnecessary but inevitable like in all movies if it helps in the box office.

Ultimately what appeals to me the most about the movie is the portrayal of the indomitable human spirit to seek for justice and freedom even in the most deplorable conditions under the repressive regime. The revolutionary zeal of the youth was so inspiring.

So, am I a fan of musicals now? Well, not quite a convert yet. Musicals might be ideal for stage performances but not wholesale adaptation to movies. Had the film version have normal dialogue and limit the singing to say a dozen songs, I would have given it the full 5 stars.

simon  14 Jan 2013