Les Miserables

So, a very exciting thing happened to me yesterday, on of my close friends won two tickets to a pre- screening of Les Miserables and she took....ME! =)So here are a few of my thoughts about it and Here we are after the big show:

Yes, I look cheezy- but come on this was epic!

I need to start by saying I couldn't sleep at all last night. The images and music were so vivid and powerful that I literally could not wipe them from my brain long enough to relax and sleep. The music was INCREDIBLE the costumes and sets ( fake or real you never know these days) were equally amazing! Because of the way they filmed the movie, ( by allowing the actors to sing it out and then compose the music around that) The depth of emotion expressed was powerful and moving. I cried 3 or 4 times, I had to keep checking to make sure my friend didn't think she brought a crazy woman, but I am pretty sure the entire audience was reacting like I was. 

Some of my tears were deep sadness and shock, such as when Fantine ( Anne Hathaway) is fired from her job and then has to turn to anything to make money to save Cosette. The end of her life, the way they show her downfall and the choices she feels she has to make, is both shocking and disturbing, or it was to me. I found my self questioning if I could handle watching this and I also found my self KNOWING this will not be a movie I let my daughter watch for a very LONG time....like until after she is married. I would caution any one with younger teenagers, maybe I never listened to the music close enough-  I am not sure, but there is no masking the culture of prostitution and how it works in the movie and how degrading it is to all women.

I also found the scene between Cosette singing castle on a cloud ( so sweet!) and Jean Valjean finding her to be uncomfortable as well. Its where Madame Thénardier and Thénardier are describing the kind of business they run. They do everything from pee in a beer bottle and chop off a cats tail ( accidentially--  kind of) for food to showing Madame rub her self all over her guests and tricking "Santa" into sleeping with there resident Prostitute. I know I may be more sensitive then a lot of folks, but this scene was just a bit to much and it reaffirmed to me that this is NOT a movie for a less mature audience.

But, while those screens where disturbing and images I don't know how to remove from my head, there was so much beauty in this film. I cried tears of sympathy and I cried at the beauty of Jean Valjeans end and the life he ultimately chose to live. I came to love this man and his struggles and in the face of constant tribulation -he chooses right....every time! When he is preparing to meet his maker, the emotions felt, the way the songs are sung, well, they are beautiful and powerful.

I was also surprised at the constant mention of God in this movie. Usually when I go see a movie at the theater I hear the Lords name a lot, but not because they are actually TALKING ABOUT him. The characters in Les Miserables question their place in Gods eyes, they wonder why he abandoned them, they turn to him for peace and in the end they all return to him. Honestly, it was refreshing to see it.  I appreciated their struggles and why they would feel they way they did. 

As to the Actor and Actresses of the movie, I was very happy. Russell Crowe as Javert was perfect and well played. I found I understood his character with out hating him for doing what he thought was right. It was so well done. Of course I already said Hugh Jackman is Jean Valjeans was AMAZING. I don't know how he could have portrayed his charecter any better, I love it! I will add though that both Amanda Seyfried as Cosette  and Eddie Redmayne as Marius were not as believable as I would have liked.  The Young Cosette played by Isabelle Allen was perfect and so sweet, but Amanda Seyfried ( who I have no issues with) was annoying to me and I felt like her voice was just, eh. Eddie Redmayne as Marius was not...I don't know.... maybe, I am just use to the where wolf type leading men, but he wasn't very believable as the guy who a girl (actually two girls) would just magically fall in love with, never looking back. Or at least not to me. A nice surprise to me was Samantha Barks who plays Éponine. You love her instantly and want her to come out victor some how. Her voice is perfect and honestly I think she out sang Amanda Seyfried note for note. LOVED, love her, she was my second favorite character played in this movie.

In the end, I loved it. But I am disturbed by it. I have been questioning the last 12 hours how I could have grown up singing and loving these song and yet not fully understanding the story. I have wondered how much of what I didn't understand  were parts added by Hollywoods view of the songs and story or was my lack of understanding really that blind as to the full subject matter. I want to go back and try to erase the images and listen only to the words, but I don't know if I can because the images of this film as SO strong ( which is a victory for the film company right?). Then on the other side of it, the high points, the good in this film, were so powerful that I find myself falling in love with Les Miserables all over again. Being moved by human struggle and the choices we choose to make in the darkest moments. There are not words spoken in this movie, only sung, adding to the fact that the emotions and story are so complex and intense that you can not pull your self away because you know you will miss something important.  It was good and I am REALLY curious to see how others react...