Les Miserables

I got to wake up slowly this morning, which I don't hardly ever do. It was actually quite enjoyable. It was kind of funny though: after having seen Les Miserables in theaters last night, I had a weird blend of a bunch of songs that would switch from one to another randomly. I hummed Stars, I Dreamed a Dream, Red and Black, One Day More, On My Own, and Javert's Suicide intermittently. A lot of these were in a medley that I watched yesterday afternoon, so maybe that inspired it somewhat this morning too.
I was kind of surprised by the movie. I haven't ever been a huge fan of the production when it's staged. Generally, it always feel like there are too many story arcs trying to fit in to one musical (it is an adaptation of a novel with 500,000+ words) and so you don't really get to emotionally connect with any character. As a result, I always felt like all of the characters were too flat to really enjoy show (with the exception of Eponine, whom I love).
The movie went a long way to solving this issue for me. The camera was RIGHT in their face for quite a few scenes, and I felt like the actors all did a pretty solid job of humanizing their characters a lot better than I'd ever experienced. That was definitely one of the biggest praises I had for the show. The music was really good in my opinion. I was glad that that recorded the vocals live, because that also made everyone much more human.
Someone asked me if it was too inappropriate. I've heard a lot of interesting answers from friends about this. Some people feel like Lovely Ladies is the only part that probably should have been toned down. Others said that that was fine, but scenes from Master of the House shouldn't have been put in. In discussing it today, I felt like I came up with my own opinion (yay!) of it. I felt like both of those scenes were very real. While there was a high level of vulgarity in each, it was done with a very specific purpose. I don't think I've really ever felt so acutely the despair and the destitution of someone who has literally lost everything. I've grown up in a pretty sheltered and simply life and it's easy to imagine all the world has gotten the same positive treatment that I have. These scenes were very much a slap in the face about how much real people experience and that I find it so easy to pretend doesn't exist. It was graphic, but it served a very specific purpose.
I know a lot of people cried during the movie. I'm generally not a big crier when it comes to movies (though books have a tendency to be a different story). I am happy to say, though, that I did have a solitary tear slide down my cheek during the movie. As Val Jean leaves with Fantine at the end, I could feel the love, but also the loss for Cosette. Then, as the bishop joined the trio and they sang "To love another person is to see the face of God", I felt the power of that theme which had been building throughout the movie.

In summation, I really enjoyed Les Miserables in theaters last night :)