"Les Mis": A Unique Theatrical Experience

When the lights came back on in the theater on Saturday night, my friends eagerly turned to me and asked the ultimate question: "So what did you think?" My response...

"It was OK."

The truth of the matter is that I walked into "Les Miserables" wanting to love it. I was going to this movie with friends that were seeing it for the second time...and you know that a movie must be good if there are people willing to pay $12 for it more than once. But as I sat through the 3-hour long mega musical, while I did find myself enjoying it, I wasn't blown away by it like the rest of the world was.

And then something interesting happened. For the next three days, I found myself thinking about this movie all the time. The themes within it, the characters, plot twists, theatrics - I kept going back and thinking over the meaning of everything and wanting to pick it apart and analyze it like one of the many books I mentally devoured in my days as an English major. Every time a movie keeps me thinking that much I realize that it's had an impact on me, and I suddenly realized that I did, in fact, want to see "Les Mis" again.

 As I've thought it over more, I think I've come to realize that the main reason I only thought the movie was OK was because I wasn't prepared for the theatricality of it. It's something unlike anything I had seen before, and sometimes when you come across something different you're not sure what to make of it right away...but how sometimes it does eventually grow on you. So here are my thoughts on the movie, both those points that I may not have appreciated as much right off the bat, as well as the more important points that have stuck with me since: 

The Sticky Spots (aka my slightly more childish side trying to handle an intense movie)

• Your typical musical has a dozen or so main songs and the rest of the story is normal conversation. This movie/play is just about all singing, including the parts when people are just having a conversation. As much as I love music, I found myself breathing a mental sigh of relief each time there was a snippet of normal speech.
• It was a little too long. While the movie did keep my attention throughout its entirety, three hours in one sitting is just too long for me - I get far too fidgety and movie theater seats aren't that comfortable. Two and a half hours, fine. Three - I've hit my breaking point. Why do you think I had to watch the "Lord of the Rings" movies in two sittings each?
• Multiple people singing at once. As beautiful as their voices were musically, these scenes made my band geek side and my English major side clash. Music - very pretty! Words - I can't tell what they're saying! What's going on in the story???
• It really irked me that the story was based in France and all the characters had British accents. While I probably enjoyed listening to the British accents more than I would have French ones, it lost an authenticity brownie point in my book. 
• The cheesy Shakespearean-esque love story between Cosette and Marius. It had its plus points, mostly because I'm a sucker for cheesy love stories, but for the most part this one just annoyed me. Amanda Seyfried just annoys me in general, though, so that could be why.

The Awesome Parts (aka where my nerdy/artsy/literary side comes out and I see the beauty in the movie)

• The quality of the movie as a whole really was incredible. The theatrics were flawless and the music was amazing. I'm still blown away by the fact that everyone sang their parts live during filming and the songs weren't prerecorded. I now know why it's been nominated for so many awards. 
• LOVED the character evolution. I could write an entire blog post just on this, but for now I'll keep it simple. Jean Valjean and Javert (the two main characters) were especially intriguing, but all the supporting characters were really interesting to follow as well. 
• The overall story line. Let's face it, it's a great story. It keeps you hooked the whole time and the plot is very well-developed.
• The religious themes. This in particular is the reason I kept thinking about this movie. Jean Valjean is Christian love personified, and I have to admit that his role was truly inspiring. My roommate, however (one of my friends who has now seen it twice), also pointed out the fascinating contrast between Jean and Javert - how the two practice the same religion but do so in such different ways. While she pointed it out to me (and while I'm slightly disappointed I didn't think about it more myself to begin with), I've taken it and run with it. Maybe another post on this sometime as well. 
• The influence of love. The story circulates around misery and a country in shambles, but the acts of love and the impacts that they have on the main characters are absolutely remarkable. This aspect of the movie is also something else I can add to my list of things currently influencing me to love more in my own life. 

As I finish up this post, I'm realizing that the more I write about the awesome parts, the more I want to see this movie again. Who knows, maybe some day I will be one of those people that falls in love with it. 

End note: for those of you that have neither seen the play or read the book (like me), or are hesitant to see the movie, I still recommend that you go. Just be prepared for a very different movie experience than one you might normally have.