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Les Miserables Customer Reviews (19 - 21 of 41 Reviews)

Probably my favorite movie!
Les Miserables is one of the best movies ever made. While not completely true to Hugo's amazing and inspiring novel (but the book was around 1200 pages, and they couldn't follow it exactly! We'd have a 50 hour movie!) it's portrayal of the themes were accurate. It's true they changed some of the characters in ways they shouldn't have been changed. Cosette is too much like a rebellious teen of today. Marius is less honorable and didn't seem to have the sense of duty he had in the book. He kept slipping away from the meetings! The actors and actresses were perfect for their parts however, and though people complained that in the book, Javert's suicide wasn't anywhere near Jean Valjean, the way the movie did it added a spiritual dimension. In the Old Testament blood was demanded for sin. In most cases, a lamb or bull was sufficient. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sin and while Javert isn't a great example of Jesus, (Jesus was forgiving and merciful!) it did show an individual paying the price for another's sin. Whether or not this was what Victor Hugo intended, I don't know. Overall, this is a REALLY awesome movie! Definitely, definitely, definitely get it!!!!!!!

Don't Compare to Book or Musical and it's Wonerful.
I read all the reviews and thought the movie was going to bomb when I finally rented it. But I ended up loving it. It had great acting and all that jazz, but you've heard that. Let me focus on the problems that many people have pointed out.

- Valjean was in prison for FOURTEEN YEARS. He did NOT want to go back. Therefore his lash out at the bishop was justifiable. He obviously did not WANT to do it, and had 'GUILT' stamped all over his face when he was brought back.

- Javert is NOT sadistic, and has a high and rigid standred for himself and the Law. But he's mortal too. When the men were beating Fantine, a prostitute, he was reminded of the disdain he had for them, and so let them carry on a bit.

- Fantine and Valjean never had anything between them, and I didn't really think there was much of that in the movie. He saved her life, so she felt affection and a bond to him. It's never shown as anything else.

- Marius isn't the type to be a political activist, it's true, and Enjolras is a incredibly key character. But not everything can be included in a two-and-a-half long movie, so it focuses around the struggle between Javert and Valjean.

- Cosette was not portrayed as a teenage rebel. She was in a coventent for ten years, and nothing was ever explained to her about her past or the past of Valjean. She was naive and didn't understand their plight.

- Valjean did hit Cosette, and for that I winced. But it was an incredibly small hit to the face, and he did it more out of stress then true anger, and showed emotion to be sorry.

Of course the book is better then the movie, but they did a pretty good job with this one- and coming from a true movie cynic, this is very rare.




REVENGE, REMORSE, REDEMPTION: STUFF THAT EPICS ARE MADE OF
We'll never quite know how the Academy overlooked this breathtaking masterpiece but it's one of the best adaptations I've seen of Hugo's classic. No easy ask to be riveted to a story one knows so well and has sludged through in both book and theatre form, but this production just has all its ducks in a row. The screenplay that hems in its multi-decade saga is put together with a pacy clip, the set designs of an Hosmanian France are credible, the dialogue is literate, and above all, the acting by the entire crew, particularly Geoffrey Rush, is immaculate. No flowery paeans needed, make place for it in your DVD collection. It's one of those.

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