Movie Review: "Les Miserables"

"Les Misreables": A.  Proving once again that no mountain is too high, no river too wide, and no expense too steep for me to do right by my multitude of blog readers (cough! cough!), I drove over to Willow Creek on Wednesday and plunked down my $5.50 to see, for a second time, Les Miserables. The first time I saw Les Miz was three weeks ago when I went with my daughters, The Dolphin and The Minnow, to the AMC Southdale 16. It was an evening screening, and the temperature inside the theater was at least 90 degrees. I did not realize I had dozed off until a few days later when I read a review describing a couple of early scenes of which I had no recollection. Based on the last 75% of the movie which I did see, I realized the greatness of this movie -- not to mention my writing responsibilities here -- deserved better attention from me.

Of the movies released in 2012, Les Miz is my favorite. Themes of love, loyalty, revenge, retribution, honor, patriotism and bravery pervade almost every scene. The dialogue is sung by the magnificent cast, and unlike most musicals which have a featured song or two, here there are many of them which enhance and advance the story. The soundtrack has no fillers or throwaways.

Even though my sister sometimes calls me "Jean Valjean," I was not familiar with the story. I certainly had not read Victor Hugo's massive 1400 page novel; that surpasses my self-imposed page limit rule by a thousand. The plot unfolds over a period of eighteen years, two decades after the French Revolution. Essentially, it is a story of three rescues, all involving Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). The first occurs in two quickly succeeding events at the story's beginning, following Valjean's  release after having served a sentence of nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving nephew. He has been ordered to report to a probation officer on a regular basis. Although he is nominally free, no one wants an ex-con under his roof.  Accordingly, he can't find lodging until a kind priest takes him in. The desperate and destitute Valjean steals from the church, but the priest lies to the authorities to save Valjean from a return to prison. Valjean, having thus been rescued by the priest and realizing he will never really be free as long as he is under the thumb of the government, then goes on the lamb and assumes a new identity -- in effect, a rescuing of his own soul. The ruse works, although he correctly predicts that Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) will never give up the search for him. The stage is now set for the rest of the story.

The second important rescue occurs eight years later. Valjean is a successful business man who owns a factory which employs a hundred people, including Fantine (Anne Hathaway). The factory foreman fires Fantine after she is accused of immorality, but by the time Valjean finds out about her termination, Fantine is working as a prostitute. Suffering from pangs of guilt, Valjean promises the dying Fantine that he will rescue her daughter, little Cosette (Isabelle Allen), from her pitiful surroundings and take care of her. He finds Cosette living a sub-Cinderella life under the guardianship of The'nardiers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter), innkeepers who fleece and scam their guests. What little humor there is in this film can be found in the related scenes, accompanied (of course) by a funny tune, Master Of The House. Valjean pays the pair for releasing Cosette to his custody, a deal the innkeepers are all too eager to accept.

The third rescue occurs too late in the story to reveal much detail without spoiling the outcome. Suffice it to say that it happens in the heat of battle on the streets of Paris, and once again the noble Valjean is the hero.

There are so many things to admire and enjoy about this movie that pages could be written, and indeed pages have already been written by others over the last six weeks. I will briefly touch on three aspects. First, I salute the writers for a story structure in which only one important new character, Marius (Eddie Redmayne), is introduced in the final third of the story.  He is the romantic interest of the older Cosette (Amanda Seyfried). The other characters appearing in the final third are all older versions of the characters we've met earlier. Compare this, for example, to the sloppy writing in the final season of the hit TV series Lost, where new characters were still showing up in each of the final three episodes of the six year series!

Second, there were several scenes which, two days after viewing, still remain vividly etched in my memory. Mostly I'm referring to scenes which tug at the heartstrings while depicting timeless predicaments concerning personal relationships. Some examples. Valjean's surprise and bewilderment when the priest whose expensive furnishings Valjean has stolen lies to the authorities, thereby sparing Valjean from imprisonment. The pleading of Fantine to the factory foreman to let her keep her job, followed shortly thereafter by her pleading with a nobleman to forgive her for striking him, even though he had it coming. The look on Valjean's face when he overhears Marius express his love for Cosette right before a battle against overwhelming odds versus the French army.  Valjean has loved her like a daughter, but now she is a woman with a love of her own. And my favorite --again, involving eavesdropping -- when Eponine, the daughter of The'nardiers (beautiful Samantha Banks), realizes that Marius, the man of her dreams (unbeknownst to him), has fallen in love with Cosette. When the three of them sing the same song, Heart Full Of Love, without Cosette and Marius being aware of her presence, I almost lost it. Good thing I was by myself in the theater.

Finally, as noted above, the singing is performed by the actors concurrent with the action. This must be extremely difficult to pull off, but that is the vision director Tom Hooper had for the story. I knew that Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway possessed that talent, and of course we remember Amanda Seyfried's stellar turn in the musical Momma Mia. What surprised me was the singing chops of Russell Crowe, whom I believe has been handed a bum rap by the music snobs. Despite their ridicule of Crowe, I did not find fault with his crooning at all. He plays the part of a rugged government tough guy, and that is what he sounds like when he sings. What did the snobs expect, Michel Buble?