When the movie version of Les Misérables came out in 2012, I was excited to see it in theaters. My high school drama department had performed the play version the previous year and since seeing it, I fell in love with the play and was excited to see how the whole thing would look on the big screen.
The movie itself has an incredible cast consisting of Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Cohan, and Helena Bonham Carter. All of these actors are amazing on their own, but combined into one film, they create a masterpiece that lives up to the original award winning play based on the book of the same name written by Victor Hugo.
While the movie may seem boring or strange since the entire thing is singing rather than regular speech, it follows the play's script and the entire movie is recorded live with no voice overs of the song later. The actors sang as it was filmed along with an orchestra behind the film crew which is rare to see now that technology is so advanced for voice recording. Also with having the actors sing live, you can see their emotions show through because they are singing from the heart live rather than lip syncing the words while filming. In order to sing live so well, the actors went through months of vocal training to perfect their sound.
The movie takes place in France prior to the French Revolution all the way into the middle of the rebellion. It follows the main character Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) through his time as a prisoner all the way through his life as a business man and a father of an orphaned child. Throughout the movie, there is lots of death to show the losses that happened during the French Revolution. There is also a love triangle to add a bit of romance to the movie and the dark subjects involved.
For me, the most important scene is the final scene of the movie. Following Valjean's death, he finds himself in a heaven where all of those who died in his life, prior to or during the Revolution, are happy and safe as one people now that they no longer have to worry about their fate. The final rendition of " Do You Hear the People Sing" gives me chills every time I hear it along with the whole soundtrack which is something every person should take the time to listen to.
So if you get the chance to see Les Misérables I would say to watch it because it is an amazing film and worth the watch.
