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The general attitude towards musicals is that they are bright and pleasant, fitting for the eyes. Instead of documentaries, the modern day musical captures a cheerier tone, like in The Glee Show, or in movies like Hairspray and Chicago, the last musical that came out of Hollywood and was nominated for an Oscar. Notably, Les Misérables (or Les Miz as many like to refer to it) tells a different story altogether. And for that it should get an applause right off the bat. This is a chilling story of a sad group of villagers, and to tell that it doesn’t require big sets and large dance routines. While it wouldn’t be the most favorable theme to welcome the joyous Christmas season with, judging by the mad craze for Cameron Mackintosh’s stage production, the movie shouldn’t have difficulties attracting audiences. But does the film capture the same magic as the award winning musical?
The movie magnificently begins with a grand shipyard in the year 1815.
Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is serving a twenty year sentence for stealing bread (Doesn’t that seem a bit too much?) while supervised by the tough officer Javert (Russel Crowe) However, once a free man, Valjean begins a quest of redemption that brings him to embrace Cosette the daughter of the destitute Fantine. Their movement together causes turmoil in the city which makes Valjean confront the wrongs he has committed in his life.
Going into watching the movie, I did not know anything about it and had never heard the musical or read the book by Victor Hugo. While there are people who enjoy the best-selling musical, there are many like me who will spin the film without knowing the history of the book and will have to attempt and analyze both the source material and the film. If you take Les Misérables, I am sorry to say, both are quite problematic. Apart from the one new song written for the film, called ‘Suddenly’ sung by Hugh Jackman, which I must admit is lovely, Tom Hooper’s version of Les Mis is a careful but inferior to Cameron Mackintosh’s award winning adaptation. Included here too are the best numbers of the show such as ‘One More Day’, ‘On My Own’, and the most unforgettable one featured in the film, ‘I Dreamed A Dream’. These songs tend to be so full of strong feelings that it is even challenging for the onlookers to hold back their own feelings and emotions. Constantly the audience is forced to see the characters’ pain filled faces and the weary words of their blisters stories making the people go numb to it all.
The music and lyrics are not like the rolling hills that Jean Valjean crosses while trying to escape his past. Instead, they’re like a plateau stepped onto where each song is performed at a clichéd over the top level. The film is full of glorifying the moments but their peak is far too low which ends up making it stagnant for the 2 hours and 37 minutes. This is partly attributed to the preexisting structure of the music and lyrics but the performances and Hooper’s direction do not improve the situation, either. Let’s consider the part of Javert. Russell Crowe performs it and I have to say the casting decision almost feels like it was made out of some desperation to please the testosterone pumped males who are sure to be dragged into the cinema by their female counterparts. It is clear he does not suit the part. Crowe has over the course of many years made his starts of a band from where he was the front man and while not acting. When not acting, Crowe has been the front man for a band for years in real life, but the style and depth of singing in Les Miz is something that Crowe never quite grasps. His deep and raspy voice is something Crowe has always had as his trademark, but in Les Miz he’s straining his voice to a higher octave and it’s obvious that causes him discomfort.
Another problem regarding the character of Javert, is that he is not listed as one of the more dreadful characters. He strikes me more as a man who is performing his role and happens to frown an awful lot. If Hooper was attempting anything, let alone sympathize with the audience, I think that he has greatly mismanaged aspects of it. You practically don’t think of him at all for a sizeable portion of the movie until the last few scenes that he appears, which ends in what can only be described as the strangest and most disturbing sound design decision I have seen in a movie. Luckily, there are some strong moments from the rightfully cast actors, which raise some of the tedious scenes. Jackman carries his own throughout and what is more, he shows a great deal of vocal power that the role calls for. My problem with the character is my impression is that he is not, and has never come across as the main protagonist, even though this is what we have to face in the conclusion. Speaking of astonishing, I do mean Anne Hathaway.
It’s difficult not to cry or get emotional when watching the heart wrenching ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ scene, and it is no surprise that the clip was voted the best scene in a movie for the year of 2012. As Epinine, Samantha Barks is just a stunning. A virtually unheard of performer captures your attention as this destitute girl who tries to win the affection of a young soldier. The most captivating part of the film is when she sings her newly released single ‘On My Own,’ which is one of the few songs regarded as unforgettable.
The thing I struggle with the most concerning the film has less to do with the story and structure of the source material, and more to do with Hooper’s aesthetic choices. A good amount of effort has been invested in the creation of the dirty streets and crumbling buildings. The characters have dirt under their fingernails and their clothing looks equally shabby and unwashed as the sets they are in. On the other hand, most of the attention of the camera is never focused on these splendid details by Danny Cohen. Besides some random establishing shots here and there which, for most parts, seem to have been strategically placed in the film’s trailers to give a hint of the grandeur of the film the greater part of the film is made up of tight handheld compositions in which the cameras zoom on the faces of the characters. This approach does certainly work well during some of the more powerful emotional numbers, it’s most accurate in Hathaway’s stunning rendition of ‘I Dreamed a Dream.’ However, Cohen never varies the tone or scale of the work and thus ends up serving a mundane experience and fails to reward the intellect which the art department of the movie worked so hard for.
As the film progresses, the row houses are shown in the background and for some clever reason, the entire set looks hand crafted and a little off balance. It is set up this way perhaps as a take on how stage productions are set. You would never be able to appreciate the detail because of the poor, and sloppy camera movement. Isn’t it a shame there was no tripod and a wide angle lens for this feature? I did appreciate that the film focused on the darker aspects of this period, such as young children getting shot during a fight. They are not pleasant, but certainly add to the overall feel. It is just unfortunate that the narrative was always portrayed through handheld shots. Capturing footage and telling a story is a feat of its own. It is necessary to make an audience feel as if they are part of the action, in the environment you are creating. The artistry of capturing still photographs needs to be honed in on as well, because instead of only resorting to handheld portraits, the harsher shots need to be balanced out with more controlled angles to ensure they capture attention, instead of being placed out where they do not where they serve no purpose.
The effect is diminished and at times, can be rather annoying and challenging if one approach is utilized for about two and a half hours. All that is said, there is appreciable of the film and it revolves around quite a number of things. The American actor-singer’s casting of some of the leads are spot on. Hugh Jackman has the heart of a man wanting redemption. Impressively forgettable as she is Amanda Siegfried, it is the female leads that make the biggest impact on the film. Les Misérables is a complicated affair. It is hard not to feel torn over the film as well as moved by it. At times, the highlights are more substantial than the whole. When I narrow the view to a few songs or specific parts of the film, I am quite taken by this adaptation. But, upon stepping away from the piece and reviewing it as a whole, It is quite disappointing as parts to a whole. Magic aside what the hype makes you believe, maybe all that will be forgotten if I look at the film close up, similar to the in–debt cinematography.
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