Les Misérables Made Me Miserable




Les Misérables Made Me Miserable 


On the night of October 9th, I tried to watch Les Misérables written by Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Alain Boublil. I got about 30 minutes into the movie before I turned it off in disgust. I for one hate musicals with a heated passion. I had a predetermined  view of  how terrible the movie was actually going to be, before I started watching it. It was incredibly hard for me to watch. I was bias from the start, and you can understand why. The following night I buckled down, and mentally prepared myself to get though the next 2 hours of my life in agony.
The movie starts out with prisoners docking a ship while singing the song "Look Down." Javert who is the prison guard is over watching from the ledge of the ship. We are then introduced to prisoner 24601, who is the protagonist of the play. His name is Jean Valijean.  He has been inprisoned for the past 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread, and trying to escape prison multiple times. Javert brings him his parole papers, and Valijean leaves. He wanders for serval months until he comes across a Priest who houses him, and feeds him. That night Valijean tries to steal silver from the Priest at night. He is caught by guards and brought to the Priest. The Priest lies to the guards, and says he Valijean permission to do so, and gives him more silver and lets him go. Valijean is surprised by the Priests kindness, and turns to God for guidance. This experience turns Valijean's life around in a positive manor. He escapes parole in order to start a new honest life after finding God . Javert finds this out, and swears to hunt Jean Velijean down.
8 years go by, and Valijean is now a wealthy factory owner. Fantine, a worker for Valijean needs to support her child, and the only way of doing this is through prostitution. Fantine is diagnosed with tuberculosis, and she ends up dying from it. Valijean promises to take care of her child. Valijean gives Cossete to the Priest who turned his life around 8 years earlier. Cosette grows into a women over the next 9 years. A student named Marius Pontmercy who wants to otherthrow the French government catches a glimpse of Colette, and instantly falls in love. Marius is later severally injured in battle but is saved by Valijean. Valijean does this because he knows Cosette and Marius love each other. Jean Valijean is chased by Javert throughout the remainder of the movie until Javerts death from jumping off of the bridge. Jacket kills himself because he finally sees how selfless Valijean is, and he no longer feels the need to capture him. At the end of the movie Valijean is dying of his chronic heart conduction. He sees a ghostly Fantine, and this is how he is taken into heaven. Marius and Cosette are with him at the end. 

 The major themes in this movie are love and redemption. Valijean turns into a selfless man after finding God in his life. This is Valijean's way of redeeming himself in God's eyes after his experience with the Bishop, and turning his life of crime around into a positive one.  He bring Cosette a new life, and also allows Marius and Cosette to be together through his actions throughout the play. His love for Cosette as if she is his own child is apparent throughout the movie. Valijean, on a regular bias does what is best for her. He is constantly putting others before himself. 

 Although I hated the movie, the special effects were incredible. Special effects senior technicians John Boundy, and Paul Clark did a great job. The effects of the ocean in the opening scene alone crashing down on the prisoners as they pull in the ship is unbelievable, and gives you a feel for the movie right away. The songs were able to catch the themes. Each song had its own meaning. The music and lyrics absolutely portrayed plot, the lines flowed very nicely throughout the entire movie.
If I am going to be honest however, I gotta say I did not like this movie at all. I hate musicals so I am biased in that nature already, and I found the movie incredibly hard to keep interest in. It was tough to keep interest throughout  the entire movie. I found many times during I may have missed key elements because my mind was starting to drift. If I were somone who didn't find musicals horrible, I think I would give this movie a better rating. But for me to rate this movie, I would give it a 5 out of 10 stars.

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