Les Miserables: Miserable At Best

Les Miserables will make you cry throughout the movie shedding tears silently and at the end of it will make your efforts to suppress your bawling and sobbing pointless - because you will bawl and sob, noisily.

i went to the cinema not expecting it to be anything close to this. sure, i was aware that it was a classic, and naturally was excited the first time i saw its poster a few months ago. but i didn't know what it was about, or that i would cry my eyes and guts out.

EVERYONE GO WATCH LES MISERABLES NOW. even if you can't stand musicals, it's gonna be worth it. so many feelings and the actors are amazing i cant even asdfghjkl. i've cried in the cinema before but never this hard (had to stop myself from bawling, but failed - i bawled noisily n hideously). if you leave the theater indifferent, i'm judging you. siriusly. memang miserable aku habis cerita tu

beware, i'm not one who minds giving spoilers away.

Anne Hathaway

she has blown me away with her performance this time. just think of her disney princess days to the increasingly mature roles she has played since then and to this, THIS OMG FANTINE. Fantine is, like everything else in Les Mis, miserable. i don't know who is the most miserable; Fantine or Valjean. ok decision made: it's Fantine.

is there anyone here who can swear before God

she has nothing to fear? she has nothing to hide?

she was fired and thrown out of the factory, sold her hair for money and her beautiful locks were cut to her scalp, her tooth was plucked out and she just wept in a corner curled alone, was forced to be a prostitute (by the bastards and whores and oh, her miserable life) and she 'statically entertained' her first customer with a tear dropping down her face  and the scene after that... THE I DREAMED A DREAM SCENE.

i love this song, and i've never heard a more heart-breaking version. Anne deserves awards for this scene alone like seriously. one of the things i love about this movie is they didn't try to be pretty (eg: Anne lose weight just for this role and i barely recognized Hugh) or to sound amazing, they acted their part and sang accordingly, and that, is what makes it amazing. Anne sang with raw emotions, she smiled and cried and screamed and whispered as she sang. it sounded so real. if you were being miserable i doubt you'd care about your pitch, right? you'd just sing your misery away.

my tears flowed like a river as Fantine sang this song. i just can't asdfghjkl

when she died? what's up with thaaat. i was shocked because i thought it was too early, it was not enough screen time for such a character! and later we learn she died in vain... she worked hard and starved herself because she got a letter informing her that her daughter was sick and money was needed for a doctor, but as it turned out the kid was just fine (being treated as a slave is not exactly fine but at least she wasn't dying).

but Fantine reappeared at the end of the movie. when Valjean was dying, and i was already crying, out of nowhere came Fantine smiling, and i was NOOO DEMMIT TOO MANY FEELINGS

AND FANTINE FREAKING SANG

Monsieur I bless your name
Monsieur, lay down your burden
You’ve raised my child with love

Come with me, where chains will never bind you

All your grief at last at last behind you

Lord in heaven, look down on him in mercy....

STAHP IT FANTINEEEE EVERY TIME YOU SING TO WELCOME HIM TO YOUR WORLD OF THE DEAD I TELL YOU TO SHUT IT UPPP AND I MOAN A LIL MORE STAHP

HE DIED AND FANTINE TOOK HIM AWAY FROM HER DAUGHTER WHO WAS MOURNING BEFORE HIS SOULLESS BODY AND THEN SUDDENLY THERE'S EVERYONE WHO'S DEAD SINGING ONE OF MY FAV SCORES - DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING - THEY WERE HAPPY THEY FOUND FREEDOM THEY FOUGHT FOR, IN DEATH, THIS IS TOO MUCH

THEY SANG AS THOUGH THEY'RE WELCOMING HIM TO HEAVEN OR SOMETHING

Will you join in our crusade?Who will be strong and stand with me?Somewhere beyond the barricadeIs there a world you long to see?


and that, kids, is the scene which i sobbed and bawled the hardest.

Jean Valjan

i feel so sorry for this man. all he did was stole a bread. c'mon. Javert i know you're a man of law and all but you don't have to be so hard on him. to hell with the law! let him go! so Valjean lived his life on the run, in disguise, on his own, unloved... until he found Fantine's daughter. this man, who had been living with a skeleton in his closet, all alone, now learnt how to love, as he found Cosette.

do you understand the intensity of emotion you should feel? DO YOUUU? of course you don't, robot.

he was a saint. after he tried to cross the bishop but the bishop still had faith in him, he turned to God... and started to turn his life around and became an angel sent from heaven, if you will. he's such a protagonist. it's understandable if the guy became bitter seeing how he was treated in prison and in the real world, but he ended up being someone noble.

their last words

he went to great lengths saving Marius (covered with poop, you've gotta have a strong heart) because he's just such a man, but i believe a large part of it was because of Cosette. he realized he couldn't drag her around forever the next time his hiding spot was discovered by Javert the stalker. when he saw Marius in the war that's when he realized (technically sang) that if someone was to die it better be him. he was an old man. Marius was just a boy. and a boy whom Cosette loved. a boy who could take his place in Cosette's life.

when he left after he was sure Cosette would have a happy ending with Marius, i was in a glass case of emotions you could crash me and i'll flood your world with tears. i was in that state up to his death scene when you wouldn't have to crash me, i already broke down like one ugly baby.

he only had her, just her, in his whole life. the girl to whom he said he will be the papa and the mama. and now, she's getting a better life, and he's living. tears, tears everywheree

he had done so much for others but the last hours of his life he spent alone. there was no love story written for him, like it was written for Cosette, he only watched the two lovebirds with a smile on his face. he smiled for them, but never for himself.

Hugh Jackman nailed it. i started to like him when i watched Australia, and now i've watched Les Mis i like him even more. i could feel his pain just by looking at his eyes, ugh feelsss.

Eponine

she is the only character most of us who live in this modern era and in country with no bloody war can relate to. er not because of her horrible parents but because of her unrequited love.

i feel you babe. although not to the point of taking a bullet for a guy, maybe because i have yet to meet such a guy or be in such a situation (BUT IT'S NOT WORTH IT, I MEAN WHY?! HE DOESN'T LOVE YOU FOR GOD'S SAKE YOU COULD HAVE HAD ENJOLRAS DIDN'T YOU SEE HIS BLOND LOCKS AND FACE??). but the song On My Own tu i feel you la.

I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life
I've only been pretending
Without me
His world would go on turning

i've heard On My Own before but the impact it brings this time is on another level. that girl did such a good job, being the girl who still smiled dreamily at the sight of the boy who left her to tango alone and did not chose to be a bitch just because she was friendzoned. i like her. when she screamed to warn Cosette and Valjean despite Cosette being her love's love interest, i like her even more. when she traded Marius's life with hers, my jaws dropped. when she closed her eyes for the last time, my tears dropped. oh girl.

i don't know if this is even humanely possible.. i mean doing it for my mother is out of question, and doing it for the sake of fellow human beings i'll understand, but doing it for the sake of love you'll never get in return...? maybe the answer i'll find out in time. or never.

Lessons to Learn, Things to Think, Messages To Digest

this is a story of many plotlines, intertwined. this is a story of many themes, tangled. this is a story of the tagline - FIGHT. DREAM. LOVE. HOPE. this is a story of innocence, of war, of romance, of history, reality, and more.

had Valjan not be such a saint who kept his promise, saved Fantine's daughter and loved her as his own, he wouldn't have anything to do with Marius, forcing him to be there during the final battle. he wouldn't have seen Javert helpless, powerless. he wouldn't have the chance to instead of kill him, let him escape, not because he wanted a deal in return, but because he's just that kind of person. he wouldn't have made Javert felt conflicted to shot him for the first time. he wouldn't have made Javert let him walk away alive.

see? when you do good, you get something good in return. even if it takes years, even if it takes tears.

i did say Fantine died for nothing right? but not really. she died for Valjan. Valjan lived for Cosette. Cosette was free because of Valjan. Marius was alive because of Valjan. it all came back to Fantine. it's never for nothing in this life. you've just gotta see the bigger picture. it's all in the snow ball rolling. 

just like the boys who died for their country. that's another tear-jerking scene. the little boy, so brave he was, so small yet he stood for something bigger. thinking that even though the soldiers might kill civilians, they would never shot a boy. but he was wrong. when Enjolras was cornered, rifles pointing at him, but he stood tall. when his friend saw him, they both were all that was still alive, he walked to join Enjolras. together they faced them all. together they shouted for the last time, in the name of their land. and together they died.

as expected i also cried when Marius returned to the place where all his friends were killed and sat alone, well, singing

Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me. 
That I live and you are gone
There's a grief that can't be spoken
There's a pain goes on and on 

Phantom faces at the window
Phantom shadows on the floor
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more. 

Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me
What your sacrifice was for
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will sing no more...

              

all around the world, the new generation were often the one to rebel. like us, we have our very own Rosli Dhobi and his friends. students defying the authority, boys fighting to be free. in a glance it all seems to be pointless, a lost cause. but actually, it keeps the snow ball rolling. they died for something.

everything happens for a reason. nothings happens for nothing. our lives are intertwined, our paths cross, our fates tangled. one thing will lead to another.

this is also a very, how to put this, Christian movie. well not really, i say it depends on us, because this is a movie about faith. about believing in the higher power. submitting to God's plans. giving in to God's will. doing things in God's name. redeeming for God's mercy. i love these values, Christian or not. because it applies to everyone, because everyone has a faith, as they should.

law is something we must obey, but it's not a do or die, it's only a guideline. like Javert. he devoted his life to law. but he forgot the fact that he must also live with logic, and most of all, his heart. i don't really think he's the villain here. like what Valjan always said, even when he was giving Javert a second chance at life but Javert vowed to still go after him, that Javert was only doing his duty. he did think Valjan was a dangerous man, that he did it for his job, for the citizen, for God, not for his own wrath. after he owed his life to Valjan, he questioned; was the man a devil or an angel? was he from hell or heaven?

All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do.

i would love to watch it again, even if it means having to stand another 2 and a half hours of musical. it's not that bad, because the songs are that good. listen to the lyrics and feel it laaa, that's the whole point. the songs aren't there only to entertain your ears. they make the scenes more meaningful and hence, make us more miserable than ever. i left the theater with red eyes and wet cheeks, short of breath for stopping myself from wailing and be the main attention when the credit rolls, but i regret nothing at all.

from someone who hasn't read the book (yet) and seen other versions of the musical, it's easily 5/5. perfect in every way.

so... Les Mis, anybody? plis...?