The Miserable

     I should have been more prepared for the movie Trent and I went to for our anniversary.  I had no idea about the plot.  Apparently I assumed incorrectly when I pieced together what I knew about the show and songs.  If you have not seen the show, or read the book, or know the real plot, then stop reading because the rest will be a spoiler.
     Argg.  1.  Hugh Jackman is a way better singer than that.  What was the director thinking when he let Hugh sing like that.  If you have ever seen Oklahoma! then you know he can sing really well.  His voice is actually pleasant to listen to unlike in Les Miz. What a disappointment.  The director had them sing live and I understand the decision; he wanted quality of character before quality of song.  I just think he should have had them record after the filming so that they could improve the quality after the acting choices were made.  No one else would have been able to show the emotion Hugh Jackman did.  He emotionally decimated me.  I just wish my ears weren't decimated as well.
     2.  Enjolras stole the show.  He should have been Marius.  Wow!  I need to hear more of his voice.  He could sing me away to a castle on a cloud anytime.  Now I want to watch whatever else he has been in.  Too bad I haven't heard of too many of them.
     3.  Javert wasn't the evil man I thought he was.  I read a little of the history surrounding the show and discovered his character was based on a past hero where justice was swift and mercy absent.  Robespierre was himself a victim of madame la guillotine, how apropos.  I thought Javert changed his life and became more merciful after Jean Valjean saved him.  I was horrified when Russell Crowe took a header into the river.  No.  It wasn't supposed to be this way.  He was supposed to be a positive force for good, using his power for the benefit of society.  The problem with literary foils is they show the opposite reactions, not what we hope for the character.  Poor Javert.  Russell Crowe impressed me.  I didn't know he could sing.  I still harbor ill feelings toward him because he broke up Meg Ryan's marriage to Dennis Quaid.  I guess it fits that he was cast as a self-righteous law abiding man who, when faced with compassion, can't handle it and takes the cowardly way out.
     4.  Fontine was a prostitute?!  Ugh.  I thought she was just poor and Jean Valjean helped her when he found out she had a daughter.  I get the irony that she was fired because others thought she couldn't make up the financial difference between her pay and the cost of caring for a child without entertaining company at night forcing her to become the worst of what they thought of her.  Anne Hathaway gave an incredible performance.  I didn't know she had it in her.  She is now one of my favorite actresses of all time.
     5.  Eponine feels like a soul sister.  She made a similar decision as Eowyn but she wasn't saved in the end because she didn't have a brother.  We can't choose our parents and we can't change how we were raised.  Poor thing.  I found it so interesting that her waist was so thin and yet her face was not.  What else does the emaciated girl need to do to look thin?
     6.  They lose at the barricade?!  I thought the triumphant song at the end proclaimed triumph not death.  What a horrible show!  What a horrible book (I started to read it, but I was too bored).  Why was it so popular as a book so long before it was made into a musical?  I wept through half of the show. It ripped out my insides and I hate that.  I'm messed up as it is, I don't need others' horrific lives draining the hope of a better life out of me.  At least the French are no longer wallowing in their own vomit and chasing after unobtainable dreams.
     7.  Everyone sacrificed their lives for Marius and Cosette.  How are their souls worth more than everyone elses'?  Really.  What was so virtuous, lovely, or of good report about these two that eclipsed everyone else?  I guess the point is that life is not fair even though I think it should be and we don't get to choose the consequences of our actions.  Our lives are not ours to live.  If we live out lives the way God wants us to, then we never know the next step.  We don't get to decide the ending and we don't get to decide who gets all the blessings and the happy ending on Earth.  We will eventually get the happy ending we deserve if we are faithful.  Sacrifice and forgiveness are not things we get to apply with discrimination.  I guess I just answered my questions from number six.
     8.  I actually liked the show in a way.  It was well done.  They chose actors that could portray the desired feelings over the quality of the music, which is necessary if you want to sell tickets to a movie.  Names are important.  If they wanted the movie to be like the play they would have cast it the same.  I'm glad they didn't.