Running time: 2 hrs. 38 min.
Director: Tom Hooper
I'm a little late in viewing this motion picture, but it was worth the wait. Having never seen the Broadway version, I was only slightly familiar with the plot. (I guess you could say I was a Les Mis virgin heehee) The little that I did know was that it involves a dying prostitute, Fantine, and an ex-convict by the name of Jean Valjean.
Those basic nuts and bolts were correct, however it was much more. Times were fantastically difficult during the backdrop of the French Revolution. There was no middle class. You either had money or you didn't; and those without had very little chance of improving their situation. Their government held enormous power over their lives, and fear of arrest was an ever present menace. This toxic environment is where the story begins and highlights just how easy it was for people to fall through the cracks to their lowest depths.
Anne Hathaway is brilliant as Fantine, the dying prostitute. Her story shows just how tenuous one's status was at that time. When she was found to have an illegitimate child she was thrown to the ditch in disgrace by the factory foreman. Her life spiraled downward as she tried with all of her might to provide for her daughter, Cosette, who was enslaved as a child by the local tavern owners (played brilliantly by Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron-Cohen).
Fantine is rescued by Jean Valjean, the ex-convict who has turned his own nightmarish life into a force of goodness. After serving years of hard labor for stealing bread for his sister's child, he is free, only to have his parole revoked for another petty crime. On the run, he is shown grace by the local priest. This is the moment that changes his heart forever. He devotes the rest of his life providing for Cosette, and trying to make a difference, all the while running from the police (Russell Crowe).
It's my opinion that filming the musical numbers live was genius. The audience really becomes a part of the story and is swept up in the emotion of it all. All of the actors and actresses should be commended for their hard work. It was a beautiful movie, albeit a long one. At the end I just sat there a bit unsure if I should cheer for the revolutionaries, or cry at the misery of it all. It left me feeling a bit introspective - the current social changes we're experiencing in America are making us feel that our own government is getting too intrusive. This struck me as an unintentional warning that I'm afraid will go unnoticed with our policymakers. Excellent, excellent movie with Oscar written all over it!
