Sunday, December 30, 2012

Les Miserables

After four long days since the movie came out, we finally got to see Les Miserables.  I personally give it two thumbs up! And yet I still managed to have cried - really cried that I had to wipe my eyes with my sleeves.  We all cried although we cried at different parts of the movie.

The movie is very poignant. It almost seems like a tragedy just because the major characters die except for Cosset and Marius.  The characters seem to have lived a lifetime of misery.  Their circumstances were all different but all of them lived painful unfortunate circumstances which were either inflicted on them by others or inflicted by a personal conviction as in the case of Javert.  Fontaine in spite of the unfortunate life she lived dies content knowing that Cosset will be in good hands.  Jean Valjean although not free (from the law) found freedom from God through his encounter with the priest and found joy in having Cosset to care for.  He dies happy knowing that Cosset forgives him of his secret past and that she's happy with Marius.  Javert kills himself because he is trapped in an unsolved dilemma within himself.  There came a point in his career when his convictions as a righteous man clashed with his conscience as a person who has been shown mercy.  No longer did he know what to do.  He ends his own life instead of arresting Valjean.

It is a story of slavery and freedom.  Valjean, although under the law, was free to love.  Javert, an enforcer of justice, was a slave to the law.  And most of all, it is a story of mercy and of love.

I was amazed at how well Anne Hathaway (Fontaine) sings.  Russell Crowe's deep opera-voice suits the character (Javert) he played especially in the epic scene of him singing on the rooftops.  When Hugh Jackman sang his parts -especially when he is talking to God - the emotion was so powerful, I had to cry.  

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