The Musical That Ignited My Passion

I just came back from watching Les Miserables for the second time. I have been waiting to catch Les Miserables ever since I knew the movie was coming. It opened on Christmas Day, but I managed to catch the preview on Christmas Eve, and now I watched it again. Thank goodness I watched it on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day which I originally planned, since I got so sick during Christmas. Sometimes impatience do pay off as the reason I watched on Christmas Eve was because I wanted to catch it when it first came out instead of waiting!

 

And my verdict? It is an excellent show, by far the best movie of the year! I may be biased because I love the musical, but I find this movie version just as good, or even better, than the musical, except for a couple of actors who cannot really sing.

 

When I knew some years back that a movie of Les Miserables was in the works, and it would be starring Hugh Jackman, one of my favourite actors and my own version of sexiest man alive, I knew it would definitely be a musical. I have always loved to hear Hugh Jackman singing, and after Anne Hathaway proved she could sing too, I knew instantly this movie would be a hit.

 

And I am not wrong! It is a fantastic show from beginning to end! The songs, the emotions, the acting, all were perfect from beginning to end! Hugh Jackman as the prisoner 24601 aka Jean Valjean who atoned for his sins by being good, who met Fantine, took pity on her and promised to look after her daughter as his own, and later his own conflict when his adopted daughter Cosette fell in love with the student revolutionary Marius, and how he ensured Marius' life would be saved by bringing him to safety in the sewers, and his going away before Marius and Cosette's wedding so Cosette would never find out his true self.

 

But later on he prepared to die and joined Fantine upon his death. Marius took Cosette to see him before he died and beseeched him to come live with them as Marius was so grateful for him saving his life and giving him Cosette, but he refused and still chose to die.

 

Anne Hathaway as Fantine gave one of the most haunting and emotional performances of her career, with the unforgettable song "I Dreamed A Dream" sung to perfection. I am really rooting for these two to win Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively! Although I am not sure what other competition is out there, but so far as I can see, Les Miserables is a hot favourite to set to win Best Picture, and I really hope it does, as the rest of the movies I have watched this year is not of the same calibre as this.

 

So far I have been pretty accurate where Best Picture is concerned. Those who know me know I go for really intense and "artistic" films, movies where most normal people could not bear watching. Hence every year, my prediction of Best Picture is always on the best and favourite movie I have watched for the year.

 

For instance Forrest Gump. When I first watched the show, I fell in love with it, and now years later, it is still one of my ultimate favourite films of all time. It won the Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Hanks.

 

When I watched Titanic, American Beauty and A Beautiful Mind, I knew that these would make Best Pictures, simply because they were the best shows I have watched for the respective year. I also predicted Kevin Spacey would win Best Actor for American Beauty and Rusell Crowe for A Beautiful Mind, which came true.

 

Same goes to Chicago, The Pianist, Slumdog Millionaire (although that year I tied it with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and The Artist. I predicted Chicago would win Best Picture although I do not think the actors and actresses were outstanding enough for Best Actor / Actress wins, and The Pianist would take Best Picture and a Best Actor win for Adrien Brody, which also came true. I also predicted the French guy playing The Artist would win Best Actor and The Artist would win Best Picture, because if someone can make a silent film this good, then it is one heck of a film and should go down as a favourite classic of all time.

 

The only time when my guess was wrong was in Avatar. However it won almost every other category it was nominated for, but lost the Best Picture to The Hurt Locker, which I also like, but to me, I find Avatar better. Black Swan did not make Best Picture too, although I predicted Natalie Portman would win Best Actress. But that year was a very good year for movies, and I was actually tied between Inception, Black Swan and The King's Speech, with the latter winning Best Picture.

 

So I really hope Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway would sweep Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and that Les Miserables would get Best Picture because so far for this year, the movies are not that impressive, although there are a few good ones, but none as fantastic as Les Miserables. Perhaps better movies are coming? After all the Best Picture nominated movies normally come around January and February in line with the Academy Awards, so perhaps there are better shows coming up?

 

Incidentally, Les Miserables was the very first musical I watched. I remember I was fourteen, and my parents brought me to watch the musical when it was running in one of the older theatres here. I was so entranced that I was glued to my seat and could focus on nothing except the musical. I love the songs, the plot and the character of Jean Valjean. It was because of this that I fell in love with musical theatre and performing arts and one of my dreams would be to be a perfomer myself, which I did for a brief time. I even sang "On My Own" duing one of my singing auditions.

 

Now watching this again, my passion is re-ignited. My passion for performing arts and musical theatre have never died, it was just buried somewhere, waiting to resurface. Perhaps I should take up singing and start performing again. And yes, I will definitely be watching Les Miserables again, as long as the movie is still showing. Now I cannot wait for the musical to come back!