Les Miserables

I'm honestly speechless. This was the best movie I have seen this year hands down. There will be those who disagree with me, obviously, but I will tell you why I loved it so much.

First off, this was one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. The title translates into 'The Miserable' or 'The Wretched' and that is what we see on screen. We see story, after story of sadness and death, and we can't help but feel for each and every character.

The live singing is the ONLY way to go from now on for Broadway to film adaptations. It worked. I have read a lot of negative reviews before seeing this movie and I was worried that I would be turned off by all of the 'talky talk' singing. Heck to the no. Hugh Jackman conveyed and sang every emotion perfectly as Jean Valjean. Marius was phenomenal. Eponine was great. We all hate Cosette, but that bug-eyed Amanda Seyfried did just fine. Helena Bonham Carter and Sascha Bara Cohen were great comic reliefs as the inn keepers. However, this movie was EPIC because of Anne Hathaway's portrayal of Fantine.

The theater sat in silence as she sang 'I Dreamed a Dream.' You could hear sniffles around the theater. This girl was not acting, she was living the part. This was pure Fantine on screen. I have never seen acting like this in my life.

I was amazed at how much each of the actors embraced all of their roles. You could just tell they were all giving their 110%. Guh....except for that Russell Crowe...I think he was giving like 200% and he was still falling short. He still did fine though. He didn't ruin the movie for me or anything. It was almost comical sometimes watching him try so hard. He gave an emotional performance of 'Stars' though.

I know that many people will want to compare the singing to the Broadway production. Some may say, "Well, it IS a musical after all come ON!" Yeah, well I have seen Les Mis and heard Les Mis sung 100 times. I just want to say that for the first time, I felt the emotion of each song. The director, Tom Hooper, made sure to zoom in and pretty much just keep an up close shot of each singer as they sang live into the camera. It worked. I felt their emotion and felt the emotion as each character sang his/her part.

Prostitution is evil right? And yet, Fantine, she would do ANYTHING for her daughter. So she became a prostitute. Does this make her evil? Nope. I think there is a special place in heaven reserved for Fantine. That is a mother's love. I felt it. I felt for Fantine.

Javert, a man of God and a man of justice. Is he really the villain?

Jean Valjean. A thief. A savior to Cosette, Fantine and to Marius. Aren't we all sinners? Where does mercy come into play?

Les Miserables is the perfect story that asks and sings all the right questions. I loved every minute of that movie.

This is what a perfect movie looks like.