Warning: This post is monstrously long.
Greetings.
This is my really late movie review. Yes, I’m aware
of that. Sorry.
I’m not exactly a big fan of movies. I’m more into
books, so I was a bit confused about what movie should I review. Then suddenly
I remember about a movie I’ve been curious about since the day it was released.
Les Misèrables.
Now, I might not look like it, but I’m a HUGE
closetted musical fans. I mean, I love everything
broadway-ish. Especially their musics. If you know about musical, you would
probably know that Les Misèrables is one of the most famous musical, like, ever. And thankfully, I think, the movie
lives up to it.
This movie was released in 2012, produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal
Pictures. The film is based on the musical of the same name, which is in turn
based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo.
The film is directed by Tom Hooper, scripted by William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg and Herbert
Kretzmer, and stars an ensemble cast led
by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway,
and Amanda Seyfried. Oh, yeah. When I first heard about the movie, I expect it to be something
like, I don’t know, movie with a few songs here and there. Boy, was I wrong. 98% of the dialogues in this movie is done by
songs. Singing and tunes and melodies. It’s impressive. Moreover, they sang it live on set. DUDE. LIVE. I got
goosebumps from the songs and they sang it LIVE.
Freaking impressed.
About
the story.
The story starts with a prisoner, named Jean
Valjean, who was just released from his 19 years of punishment with a parole
and a soldier named Javet trailing after him. Guess what made him a prisoner.
He stole a loaf of bread. A LOAF OF BREAD. 19 years of his life in
prison because he stole a loaf of bread. (5 years, actually, but he
tried to run away so they added another years, but STILL.) Injustice to the
extreme. Anyway, he tried to find a job, and turned his life around. But
because of his freaking parole, everyone treated him like a piece of trash. He
was tired, and he fell asleep in front of a bishop’s house, who invited him to
his house. Notes, I LOVE THIS BISHOP.
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| Thank you Monsieur, your kindness is touching. Really. |
The bishop offered him foods and beds. But Valjean
stole his silver and run. He was caught, but the bishop defended him, gave him
his silver, and said that Valjean had a soul. That made Valjean turned his
perception on the world, ripped his parole, and start a new life as a different
person. GO VALJEAN!
Eight years later, Valjean had became an owner of
a factory and a mayor of a town. Bad luck, Javet, the soldier who was trailing
him, was assigned as the town’s security chief. When one of his worker,
Fantine, was discovered by her fellow workers that she had been sending money
to her illegitimate child, Valjean could not defend her and she was then sent
out to the street.
She did her best to thrive. She sold her hair, her
teeth, and she even ended up being a prostitute. In despair, she sang one of my
favorite musical piece in the movie. I Dreamed a Dream. I swear I got
goosebumps for the whole 3 minutes or so.
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| This scene is so goosebump-inducing |
She was caught in trouble, when Valjean decided to
save her. He promised to take care of her daughter. But Javet found out that
Valjean was indeed, a fugitive. Valjean, thankfully, able to freed himself and
found Cosette, Fantine’s daughter. He paid her debt to Thènardier (bad inkeeper
who was trusted by Fantine to take care of Cosette). But since Javet was on the
run, Valjean asked for a help to a person he once helped. They started a new
life, but not without Javet swearing that he would catch Valjean, no matter
what.
Fast forward, nine years had passed. The poverty
in French was increasing, the only good leader was dying, and a group of
youngsters were planning a rebellion against French monarchy. The students consist of Marius Pontmercy , Enjolras, Gavroche, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Joly, and Jean Prouvaire. Marius lived near Thèrnadier, who had a daughter named Éponine, who had onesided
love toward Marius.
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| Meet Gavroche. He's a supporting character, but he's a BIG sweetie and I love him. So I will put his picture. |
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| Oh, and here's Marius. |
One day, Marius met Valjean and Cosette on the
street, and BOOM, love at first sight happened. Marius asked Éponine to find him the
girl. They met and profess their love, which left Éponine heartbroken and sang another
goosebump-inducing-song called On My Own. Then, Javet showed up again and
Valjean was forced to move, without knowing Cosette’s love towards Marius. The
next day, the revolution happened.
During the revolution, Javet was caught. Valjean,
who read the letter Marius sent for Cosette, decided to join the rebellion and
protect Marius. He saved Enjolras and was given the honor to kill Javet. But
Valjean, insisting that Javet had only done his job, freed him. Éponine died protecting
Marius. The revolution flopped, they were short of people. The big finale
killed everyone, except for Marius, who was saved by Valjean by dragging him
through the skewer. They met Javet, but Javet didn’t kill Valjean. He was
confused by his own decision, and his heart waver as he didn’t know, I quoted, “whether
he was from heaven or hell”(he as in Valjean). Javet ended up jumping from a
bridge.
Marius woke up in his granfather’s house. He mourned
the death of his friend (i cried ;_;), and met Cosette. Valjean decided to
trust Cosette to Marius and told him the truth about him being a fugitive. He
left. Marius married Cosette. At their reception, Marius found out that Valjean
was the one who saved his life during the revolution. He and Cosette searched
for Valjean and found him dying. Valjean gave Cosette a letter that contained
the story about his past, and he died in peace(I teared up here too ;___;). The
story ends with Valjean’s soul joining Fantine, Éponine, and others as they sang a glorious song together.
MAJOR GOOSEBUMP.
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| Goosebump ending for a goosebump movie. Beautiful. *slow clap* |
PHEW. That was long.
Characters
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| Jean Valjean |
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| Javert |
| Fantine |
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| Cosette |
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| Eponine |
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| Monsieur and Madame Thernadier |
Opinion
I think you could get a glimpse about my opinion
of the movie. Well, to put it frankly, I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I really enjoyed the
entirity of this movie. The songs are amazing. The vocals are top notch. The
harmonization, God, the harmonization. The story is usually not my cup of tea,
but it’s pretty good, and sad. There are some moments in which I find this
movie a bit exaggerating, but I remembered that hey, this is a musical after
all. So everything’s good. I’ve never gotten that many goosebumps from a movie
before. The moral values are definitely there. We should never lose hope, we
need to love each other, we need to have a sense of humanity, and we need to
share.
The bad thing from this movie, is that, I predict
that it will only work for a certain type of people. Some would find the movie
boring, and they might yawn, since it consisted mostly of slow orchestral works
and songs. And really, if you’re not
into these kind of musics, the storyline won’t be that great either. That’s the
only bad thing for me, since I apparently love the movie. You should try and
watch it though. Or at least search for Anne Hathaway singing I Dreamed a
Dream. That thing is heartbreaking.
That’s all! Bye!
-Dian
P.S: Here's the trailer
