A potent social document of poverty, ignorance, and brutality of man by Victor Hugo, Les Miserables is also a rousing adventure of the hapless victim of French society - Jean Valjean, and his valiant struggle to redeem his past.
The movie had been so well done. The opening had been rather grand. The actors and actresses had played their part and portrayed the characters in a way that the audience could really relate to. While I was watching it, I can't help feeling so engrossed, as if I were on a time-travel or something. I felt like I was actually there when it happened.
It was longer than I expected but I hadn't been really bored. There's always something to look forward to with every changing of the scene. The props (musical score, costumes, etc.) hadn't really been magnificent but I think they were able to make the people visualize the scene. The lights and effects were superb. I really appreciate its simple beauty. Two thumbs-up.
It had been said that movies are the mirror of life. The character of the society was ingeniously exposed by this show. The story as a whole is the plight of Jean Valjean a.k.a. Monsieur Madeleine portrayed by Liam Neeson, the stigma of an ex-convict, the interminable search of police officer Javert played by Geoffrey Rush and his craving to put the latter behind bars, and of course, the love between the exploited at a young age Cosette (Claire Danes) and the chivalrous rebel Marius. Some social issues & moral pressures were also highlighted in the chronicle which people in the present can identify with. But what caught my attention was the hostile treatment of Javert to Jean Valjean who experienced conversion of soul after the incident in the monastery in which the Priest denied the allegation that the latter robbed him of some valuables in his monastery saving Jean from being imprisoned again. Jean Valjean became the mayor of the town, a well-to-do-businessman and a humanitarian by heart after lending his help to jobless citizenry of his town and to Fantine, a self-sustaining woman who pushed herself into prostitution to send money to her daughter Cosette who was kept and enslaved by the Thenardier's.
These two important characters in LES MISERABLES might have opposing characteristics as they are in the novel, they share some things that are similar. Both Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert had a miserable background; both were poor. ... Jean Valjean, a hideous criminal, a horrible convict, lived a miserable life in the dreamy darkness but awakened in this deep slumber by the light of Monsieur Myriel. ...
