Les Misérables comes to theaters

People around the world know of Les Misérables; it started off as a French musical that was based a novel written by Victor Hugo, also named Les Misérables. The movie version of the global phenomenon was recently released on Christmas Day.

The movie’s setting takes place in 19^th century France. The main character is a man named Jean Valjean, played by Hugh Jackman, who was imprisoned for a long period in his life for stealing a piece of bread. When he gets out on parole, he decides to change everything about himself, including his name, and pursues a new and successful life. A ruthless policeman named Javert, played by Russell Crowe, dedicated his life to hunting down Valjean. The story is about what happens throughout Valjean’s life. He makes new friends, has to deal with a few enemies, and gets a family. He creates a life for himself out of nothing.

The film has a phenomenal cast full of familiar faces such as Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter. There are also many actors in the film who aren’t as well known. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter gave the film a slight comical relief, which was the perfect way to keep Les Mis from being too sad. The movie has an excellent mix of genres-including drama, comedy, romance and action.  The movie was conceived by Tom Hooper, who also directed the movie The King’s Speech.

One of the most unique qualities of this movie is that it’s a musical. There is no talking. Every spoken word and conversation throughout the movie is in the form of a song. The singing gets to be a bit excessive. They should have added in a few regular conversations, but the songs were all well formed and sung beautifully. The film is 157 minutes long, filled with over 40 songs written just for Les Misérables.

By Katie Curtenius

 

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