Les Misérables Returns to the Big Screen
A Review by Ken Kiunke
Staff Writer
 With a musical play or film, you hope both the music and the story will be great, and the 2012 Les Misérables, directed by Tom Hooper, delivers both, but it takes a little while to get there. The first of many segments of the film begins with Jean Valjean, played by Hugh Jackman, and hundreds of prisoners pulling a damaged ship into drydock with ropes. It is an impressive and compelling image, but as I began to hear the music and singing by the cast (almost all of the dialog is sung) I was concerned that the singing wasn't very good, and the music, rather than joining with the vocals for great songs, just sort of floated along behind the vocals, like background music. Photo: Jean Valjean played by Hugh Jackman
 Russell Crowe, as Javert, did not inspire great confidence when he joined in either. After Valjean is released on parole, the first act reaches a peak when he finds redemption within himself from an act of kindness by a bishop, which sends him on his path of righteousness. The quality and feel of the musical picks up dramatically in the next act when we find Jean Valjean now an upstanding businessman, and even mayor of a town, and Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway, joins the story as a working single mother who struggles against her fate. Her voice is accomplished, and the music and vocals begin to work together. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter (who practically reprises her role from Sweeny Todd as a seamy innkeeper) join the cast as the Thénardiers, innkeepers who are caring (sort of) for Fantine's daughter Cosette. The pair have fun with the song “Master Of The House” (the one George Costanza from Seinfeld could not get out of his head.) The song provides an over-the-top look at the life of the lower class partyers who, for some reason, keep coming back to their establishment. Photo: Isabelle Allen, who plays the young version of Seyfried's Cosette
The next act brings us to a grown Cosette, played by Amanda Seyfried, who is living with her adopted father Valjean. The pair have somehow spent the past nine years in a wealthy life in Paris without Javert ever noticing, but one encounter with the Thénardiers tips him off, and the hunt is back on, and by now, even Crowe's singing starts to sound pretty good. Seyfried is also a lovely singer, and the songs continue to build the story as we join a group of students plotting another French revolution after the death of Lamarque, a French General sympathetic to the cause of liberty. The song “Do You Hear The People Sing” is a highlight of the final act, and a stirring patriotic anthem. Sadly, not many of the French people heard them, and the revolution ended with the seemingly pointless deaths of the students and their allies. (It would probably take a master's degree in French history to fully understand all the twists and turns of 19th century French revolutions.)
 The real tragic story of the Les Misérables is that of Javert, who is so mono-manically obsessed with punishing one man who violated his parole, that his life is not worth living after his failure to bring him in. (No, it was not the stolen bread – Valjean served his 19 years for that already...) Russell Crowe does a fine job portraying this brave but pathetic character, but you do wonder what he is up to during the 17 years Valjean is blending in without being chased by Javert (Brooding about it I suppose). Photo: ‘Les Misérables’ Stars Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman
The film is stirring, emotional and uplifting, though at over 2 ½ hours, very long. (You could skip the first 20 minutes without missing much) It is in wide release this winter at movie theaters everywhere and should be available on DVD by summer 2013. Les Misérables is now the world’s longest-running musical, seen by over 60 million people in 42 countries. “Les Misérables” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Gun death, poverty, face boils and revolution. Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Samantha Barks (Éponine), Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thénardier) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Thénardier).
In the 2013 Golden Globes Awards, "Les Miserables" was named best musical. "Les Miserables," the musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel, earned Jackman the Globe for musical or comedy actor as tragic hero Jean Valjean. Hathaway won supporting actress as a single mom forced into prostitution.
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