“Les Miserables” Is a Revolutionary Film

By 

Nora Palmtag

 on January 10, 2013 at 7:00 am

There was no movement or noise in the theater as everyone was totally engrossed in the action on the screen. My family loved the movie , saying their audience was also did not move or make any noise during the performance. We cannot wait for the Oscars to see if it wins hands down.

I had not seen or read Les Miserables, which means “The Miserable, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims.” Regretting this action is stating the obvious. Growing up black in the South before The Civil Rights Act, I did not want to see a movie called Les Miserables since this is the way I saw my life.

However, I now see that my life was a cakewalk compared to Jean Valjean’s life, prisoner 24601, the main character of the movie, played by Hugh Jackman, who was imprisoned for five years for stealing bread to save the life of his sister’s son. However, being the independent, defiant, and proud man that he was, Jean did not conform to prison life, continually trying to escape, and served an additional fourteen years, along with beatings, humiliations, and scars.

The main nemesis is Javert, played by Russell Crowe, a fanatic and uncompromising police inspector, who is unrelenting at his job. After being paroled, Jean Valjean cannot get employment because he is an ex-convict with yellow papers, so he destroys his release papers to start a new life and so begins his odyssey.

Javert is relentless in the pursuit of prisoner 24601 and vows to never stop in his pursuit of Jean Valjean. Enthralled in this musical amazing odyssey of this proud man from the gutter to a new life, you cannot help being moved by this movie. It is magnificently portrayed and presented to the audience from beginning credit to the end.

Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, and Amanda Seyfried perform one of the most moving quartets I have ever heard. They can actually sing, I mean Russell and Hugh, of course. Anne Hathaway may walk away with an Oscar for her portrayal of Fantine, the mother of Cossette.

Casting for all the parts in the movie musical was beyond perfect, especially the children. Gavroche, a street urchin, portrayed by Daniel Huttlestone and Cossette, played by Isabelle Allen, the daughter of a young unwed factory worker, who leaves her with some abusive innkeepers do their singing and acting to perfection, at times almost bringing the audience to tears.

There was no movement or noise in the theater as everyone was totally engrossed in the action on the screen. My family loved the movie , saying their audience was also did not move or make any noise during the performance. We cannot wait for the Oscars to see if it wins hands down.