For some reason, I had never seen ANY version of Les Misérables. As I like musicals, that never caused a moment’s hesitation, the delay was likely because it just didn’t look very positive. When invited to go see it yesterday, I figured 1) I genuinely love the company I would be keeping for the evening and 2) it would fill a cultural gap that I had avoided too long.
As it happened, the evening turned out as expected… I enjoyed the outing and the film was ‘miserable.’ No, it wasn’t a bad movie – it was just a real downer. And yes, I cried. There were a couple of parts where Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean touched on some subjects very near and dear to me. In particular, when he discovered the young Cosette and in the song “Suddenly” went on about how his life was instantly changed by adding her, it brought to mind how my life changed instantly when Dawn and the kids came into my life. I knew exactly what he felt when saying, “yesterday I was alone, today you are beside me.”
The other part that resonated with me was another Jackman song… this time as he was dying. As he looked back on his life and questioned whether he did well or failed, it was a powerful scene.
The Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter scenes were a welcome comic relief in such a heavy story and always seemed to come at just the right time. In the end, I really, really liked this film. Go see it!
RATING 9 out of 10
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