I went to see it today - by myself (Mr Bee is on a golf junket). I was glad that that I was by myself because I cried so much at the end, I wouldn't have wanted to be with anyone who wasn't crying - and that would not have been Mr Bee!
Les Miserables the current film is adapted from what is considered one of the half-dozen greatest novels of the past 150 years and one of the longest novels ever written. It encompasses
religion, politics, and society, including discussions of cloistered religious orders, the construction of the Paris sewers, argot, the street urchins of Paris, and theBattle of Waterloo.
The authors preface gives an overview of the dominant themes of the plot:
So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine, with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.
While I give a thumbs up, it is not for everyone. Much of the dialogue is sung, there are only 2 - 3 songs that are recognizable, so it is not a "popular" type of musical. It has a fair bit of violence.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it in that it totally engaged me emotionally.