''Les Misérables'' (2012 movie)- Review

Directed by: Tom Hooper
Released: 2012
Country: United Kingdom

Main cast: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Samantha Barks

Genres: Musical Drama

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review

Hugh Jackman is a powerful and mesmerizing actor, and gives a wonderful performance in this 2012 film version of the world famous novel, a movie to fall in love with. As well-made it is, so is it, along with being an excellent adaptation, an emotional journey and captivating musical film. Along with ''Lincoln'', ''Hitchcock'' and ''Silver Linings Playbook'', it falls in my list of the best films of 2012 (I haven't yet seen other best-reviewed films from 2012 like ''Amour'', ''Argo'' or ''Django Unchained'', but I'll soon see them).

It is an adaptation of the musical by Alain Boublil, and Claude-Michel Schönberg, which is based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, the film has a musical charm added to such a well-known story. Director Tom Hooper, whom you might remember as the director of ''The King's Speech'', amazingly directs this movie from a screenplay by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claide-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer. The film itself is, in a word, wonderful, with wonderful songs and music, the brilliant scenes created with the help of highly praiseworthy cinematography and production design, the score. The dark, beautiful cinematography makes it an extremely good-looking film.

Oh, the story? Here you are:

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) has been released from prison under parole, after nineteen long years of imprisonment for only stealing some bread. After being released, he is inspired by the grace of a Bishop, he works hard, breaks the parole, and starts a new life with a new identity. 

Eight years have passed, and Jean Valjean is known by a different name, and is now a mayor and factory owner. The prison guard, Javert (Russell Crowe) is still trying to relocate Jean Valjean and punish him.

One of Valjean's workers, Fantine (Anne Hathaway) has a daughter who lives far from her with the owners of an inn. She is fired by the foreman of the factory as she is thought to have no character. She has been informed that her daughter is very sick and she must send money to the innkeepers, for her daughter's treatment. Without any money or a job, she is forced to sacrifice her hair and two teeth, and has to become a prostitute. One day, she hits a man who was behaving badly with her, and Javert decides to arrest her. However, Jean Valjean saves her, takes her to his home, and after knowing everything about her, he decides to reunite Fantine with her daughter Cosette. But sadly, Fantine dies soon.

After some incidences, Jean Valjean's identity becomes known, and Valjean flees away, and after taking Cosette from the innkeepers, he starts a new life with a new identity, with Cosette, who he treats as a daughter. Then after nine years...

The performances are extremely wonderful. Hugh Jackman, as I had mentioned at the very beginning of the review, gives one of the best performances of 2012. Anne Hathaway is excellent, and I think she deserves to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for which she has been nominated for. Russell Crowe is yet another wonder; and he should have also been nominated for the Oscar for  Best Supporting Actor. Amanda Seyfried is amazing. Samantha Barks, making her film debut as Eponine, is a beautiful and wonderful actress. Eddie Redmayne is good. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are present as the cruel innkeepers with whom Cosette had stayed as a child. Bonham Carter and Baron Cohen were previously seen together in another musical movie, ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''. 

It should have got two more Oscar nominations, one for Best Cinematography and another for Best Supporting Actor (Crowe). 

Despite it lacks some emotions and beauty of the original novel, this musical film is indeed a film to fall in love with, a 2 hour 30 minutes of wonderful journey. Beautiful!

4 out of 5