Les Misérables: A Movie Review

Merry Christmas!  Les Miz opens todays in theaters, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts from the screening I attended a while back….

When Tom Hooper, award-winning director of The King’s Speech, chose Christmas day as the release date for his version of Les Miserables, it was no doubt a nod to the “reason for the season.” Like Victor Hugo’s original masterpiece from 1862, it is sparkling with references to God’s grace and redemption from spiritual death. And despite the fact that most critics and many viewers won’t see Christ here, the few shepherds and wise men still among us will likely find Hooper’s vision a startling testimony to God’s humility and grace displayed clearly in the Christmas story.

What has caught the imagination of many critics is the remarkable way Hooper chose to film the movie. By filming his actors live—including Hugh Jackman as Valjean and Anne Hathaway as Fantine—he captures a raw emotion and immediacy that seems at times unparalleled. And while this doesn’t work well for Russell Crowe, whose singing is understated at best, Anne Hathaway’s version of I Dreamed a Dream is rightly being called a “show-stopper.”  Along with rich costumes and period architecture, Hooper also uses wide-screen shots of mountains in snowdrifts and city streets to evoke a nearly epic feel.

That’s not to say it’s a perfect movie.  Here are few negatives:

1) The Storyline: Most noticeably, the storyline is too thin. Hooper’s film is a movie-version of the Broadway musical first launched back in 1985. Here we get the basics of Hugo’s novel–Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman) was arrested for stealing bread and spends 19 years in prison. Once he’s released, he breaks parole to start a new life, hunted as a fugitive by the Inspector Javier. But then, there is the scene in which Valjean’s soul is purchased for God through the mercy of a priest–probably one of the most startling portrayals of Christian grace in Western literature. He steals a bishop’s silver, but when arrested, he tells the police the bishop had given the silver to him. The police of course doubt his story, and they ask the bishop whether the story is true. Rather than condemn Valjean, however, the bishop confirms Valjean’s story and chides him for not taking the candlesticks as well. From that point, Valjean spends a lifetime trying not merely to survive, but to give to others the same grace he received.

But in comparison to the book or the Liam Neeson version from 1998 (which I love!), the storyline is only barely fleshed out and it suffers from typical Broadway excesses—over- romanticizing the characters and too much emphasis on the spectacle, at the expense of the story. In particular, the character of Eponine played by Samantha Barks is supposed to be sympathetic enough for a solo after only a few minutes in our purview. Admittedly, she did a good job, but a striking costume on a beautiful girl, even in the rain, does not a subplot make.

2) Unnecessarily Bawdy and Sexual: It is one thing to show Fantine’s first night as a prostitute, focusing on her face as she is abused. It is another thing to throw in a scene of a man dressed up as Santa with a prostitute, simply for shock value and twisted humor. As so often the case with Hollywood, comedic relief played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter in particular are more debauched than they need to be, making the movie unsuitable for younger audiences.

3) Violence: This isn’t so much a negative as a caution to parents of young adults.  The story does contain some violence, with the last third of the film occurring during a student-revolt in France in the line of the French Revolution. Although some of it is disturbing, with a very young boy killed in cold blood, Hooper does well not to revel in the gory.

On the whole, however, the original story of redemption is well-served, and thoughtful viewers will be moved by the compassion at the heart of the story, as well as challenged to consider the themes of law versus grace, and what it means for sinners like us living in fallen world to be “ransomed…from fear and hatred” and given “back to God.”

If you’d like more of our thoughts on Les Miz, especially the book version, see Janie’s review Grace and Law and Two Silver Candlesticks.  For other book and movie review combos, see our coverage of Anna Karenina or Hunger Games.