Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Tinsel

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
This Season’s Must See Movie: Les Miserables

This Season’s Must See Movie: Les Miserables

Last updated on: December 18, 2012 at 10:41 pm by Rebecca Cusey

This Season’s Must See Movie: Les Miserables 2012-12-18T12:45:09-06:00 Rebecca Cusey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What to do?

What to say?

What I tell you about Les Mis-er-ab-les?

Beneath the music that will insinuate itself into your mind, beneath the acting that will have tears streaming down your face, beneath the scope the movie offers that is not available on a stage, there is a story.

And what a story.

The story of the reformed and restored criminal Jean Valjean from Victor Hugo’s great novel is the story of humanity, of despair, but most of all, of redemption.

If haven’t heard the story, here is a rundown. It’s helpful to know the story going in because it moves quickly and sometimes is hard to follow if you are unfamiliar.

As the musical starts, Jean Valjean finishes serving nineteen years hard labor for the theft of a loaf of bread. Paroled, but not freed from his shame, he sets into the world with his moral code of an eye for an eye, of turning his heart into stone.

Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, a convict who becomes a rich man, receiving and extending grace in a harsh world.

But God has another plan. An encounter with a priest shows Valjean another way, a way of grace, of redemption, of reprieve.

Jean Valjean vows to live his life in this new way, something beyond rules and just rewards, something based on love and not justice. Years later, as chief businessman and mayor of a Paris suburb, he has a chance to help a prostitute named Fantine, but the need is great. The dying mother leaves behind a little girl, a girl Valjean promises to protect.

However, the former convict has broken parole to embark on his new life. A police officer named Javert makes it his personal mission to bring the fugitive to justice. Valjean with the little girl Cosette flee to Paris, where they find yet another new life with seething poverty and revolution as a backdrop, a chance at love, and the relentless footsteps of Javert constantly echoing behind them.

Fans of the musical, as I have been for decades, will love the movie. For the most part, the film sticks straight to the outlines of the musical. Some little tweaks are made, a missing song intro here or a switch in order there, but the tone of the musical remains. A few plot points come from the book, but are not in the musical.

In fact, it’s remarkable how different two experiences can be with the same lyrics and music. Director Tom Hooper takes full advantage of movie magic, giving street scenes, sewers, and the Paris skyline the kind of scope and presence only implied on a limited stage. The first number of the second half, Do You Hear the People Sing?, fulfills the promise of the music by filling up a Parisian thoroughfare with the discontented and disenfranchised beginning to rally around a revolutionary flag. It’s positively stirring.

This is not a movie to replace the musical, but a different, complimentary experience.

The other difference between movies and stage is that the camera can capture the face of an actor, while a play audience has to watch from a distance. The cast of the musical sang the songs as they filmed, as opposed to taping in a studio and dubbing over, so the words are raw and the acting integrated with them.

The most powerful example, indeed the most powerful scene in any movie this year, is Anne Hathaway as Fantine, a mother forced from respectable employment to the streets and prostitution to support her child. When she sings I Dreamed a Dream, the anguish in her voice and her eyes unite to make a heartbreaking whole. It is nearly impossible to watch without tears. Indeed, she is considered nearly a lock for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for this role.

Fantine (Anne Hathaway)

It’s all the more remarkable in that Hathaway’s voice, like that of the bulk of the cast, is nowhere near Broadway quality. It is not the skill in her notes that makes the effect, but the emotion. The weakest link in the film is Russell Crowe as Javert, the relentless rule-enforcer, but even he conjures up powerful emotions and themes. Likewise, Amanda Seyfried as grown Cosette acquits herself passably.

Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean runs the range of emotions from haggard and hateful to sacrificially loving, from frightened to secure, from sinner to saint. A Tony-award winning Broadway actor as well as a bona fide movie star, Jackman aims more for emotion than for Broadway vocal power, and succeeds. He also performs the new song in the production, Suddenly, a lullaby of love to little Cosette.

Stage veterans were cast in some big roles. Marius, the revolutionary, is played by the adorable Eddie Redmayne, no stranger to the stage in London and New York. Samantha Barks, who has a long stage resume and played Eponine in London, reprises her role here. Her voice is so powerful and pure that it stands out among the other cast.

Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are well cast as the despicable Thenardier couple, the Master of the House, looking only to line their own pockets. Cohen, whom we know best from Borat, is an unexpected delight in the role.

The story, however, is the heart and soul of the movie. Much will be written, and indeed has been over the years, about the contrast of two men. One lives by the way of grace. The other is a slave to justice. Their lives intersect and interweave, but grace perseveres.

It is one of the most beautiful stories ever written, one of the most beautiful scores ever composed, expertly set to film. Gather up the family this Christmas. Don’t miss it. In fact, this movie reflects exactly why Christians believe Jesus came to earth.

He came for the miserable ones, Les Miserables.

Rated PG-13, the epic story shows the despair and dregs of life as well as victory. There are scenes of violence, murder, and prison savagery. Fantine is reduced to prostitution. Although the movie does not explicitly show sex, the lyrics refer to the act of prostitution and Fantine’s shame as she takes her first customer is shown, with the motions of her body evident but the man never seen. There are battle scenes, heroically portrayed and not particularly bloody, but filled with death, death of a child, and a suicide. The movie deals with universal and human themes in ways that help children understand the world and humanity, but parents should be ready for these themes. Not appropriate for elementary aged children, probably.

Previous Post

December 18, 2012

10 Most Tear Inducing Lyric Quotes from Les Miserables (With photos from the Film)

Next Post

December 20, 2012 Look Down, Look Down! An interview with Justice Fellowship's Pat Nolan on the Released Prisoners Walking in Jean Valjean's Footsteps

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Becky's Picks Children's Movies DVD releases Entertainment News Faith on Film Featured Hunger Games In Theaters Interviews Life, Etc. Mixed Nuts Movie Reviews Poliflix Scroogewatch slider Television Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet was commanded to buy a field during a siege?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Obadiah Isaiah Jeremiah Habakkuk