Ministry Of Eccentricity

Les Misérables: An Oscar

worthy production

As a huge Broadway fan, and a person who is addicted to Les Misérables to the point that I have watched nearly every version of it, it was only natural that I watched the movie upon release; going into the theatre, I was worried that the film wouldn’t meet my extremely high expectations, fortunately for me, they crossed them by far! Tom Hooper successfully achieved changing only tiny bits to maintain the musical’s WOW factor. The prodigy begins with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe flawlessly performing their rendition of, Look down, filmed with the optimum props that are nearly guaranteed to make you look up, with surprise, just when you were about to pop your popcorn open. From there every scene is an emotional rollercoaster for the viewers who probably need to get a surgery if their pulse rate wasn’t heightened watching it.

Jean Valjean, the inmate

While the directing and cameras hold a close run for my favorite aspect of the movie, with its close up scenes obviously unachievable on Broadway, my favorite aspect would definitely be the acting skills which do not fall short from being described as Brilliant! Everyone from the Once-Oscar-Nominated, Hugh Jackman, to the twelve-year old, Daniel Huttlestone, who portrays the revolutionary child, Gavroche, in a manner equivalent of the BAFTA film award winning child, Jamie Bell, act their roles convincingly with not even one noticeable flaw in all the 157 minutes which is hard to achieve with all the close-ups.

Samantha Barks portraying Eponine

While the soundtrack, overall, was definitely not up to par with that of the Broadway musical, I disagree with Adam Lambert. Some of the numbers were so emotionally intense and vocally impeccable that I literally had to give them standing ovations leading to the distress of the viewers who were unlucky enough to book the chair behind mine. I dreamed a dream was one of these. It literally gave me Goosebumps. I applaud Anne Hathaway for her choice to portray the role of Fantine with such originality. She literally gave the character a new dimension. Another actress who definitely shook me to the core with her performance was Samantha Barks who portrayed Eponine, a character I always regarded irrelevant up to this day. Barks delivered On My Own in such a style and conviction that would’ve been my favorite if Lea Salogna didn’t exist. Hopeless romantic as I am, I am not an emotional person when it comes to movies, and the fact that the scene Jean Valjean dies made me tear up, really says something about Jackman and Hathaway’s talent. The revolutionary feel was very dramatic and exciting. The one drawback is that Amanda Seyfried’s Cossette rarely ever appeared in the movie which I didn’t like as the fictional character is one of my all time favorites.

I feel like this review isn’t doing the movie justice so I’m gonna elaborate in a few short words. With some movies, you can’t pinpoint the aspect that makes it the best of the best. It just is, like Titanic! And this is definitely how I felt about Les Misérables. Not one aspect contributing to the production of this sheer awesomeness, doesn’t deserve an Oscar. This is, by far, the best rendition of the movie up tp date, as it includes scenes that were never seen in earlier version and has included each and every plot twist in the novels from cover to cover unlike the 1998 one.  Hats Off!