Les Miserables, the timeless novel by Victor Hugo, has recently been adapted into a new musical film by Tom Hooper with Universal Pictures. It stars Hugh Jackman as Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert, Anne Hathaway as Fantine, and Amanda Seyfried as Cossette.

Set in the French revolution, it tells the story of Jean Valjean, a convict who escaped from parole determined to start life afresh, only to be hunted down by law officer Javert. Living under a new identity, he rescues destitute single mother Fantine from the streets while acting as governor of her town, and when she dies is left with the custody of her daughter Cossette. When Javert catches wind of his presence he flees with Cossette to Paris, but he can’t hide from Javert forever. The two come face to face in the middle of a violent student revolution, only for Valjean to spare Javert’s life, showing that he really has started afresh and is not the criminal he once was.

I, personally, loved the film. It was an intensely emotional experience that brought me to tears more than once. You really feel for Valjean and the immense struggle he is going through, trying to bring up a child, escape his past and find himself. The musical aspect was very well done, and I particularly enjoyed ‘Can you hear the people sing?’ and ‘I dream a dream’. I strongly agree with the timeless morals of ‘people can change’ and ‘compassion is always the best option’. Even with Javert's tragic end, this was a heart-warming tale that I would strongly recommend to one and all.

One man, Tyler, agreed that is was an ‘incredible’ movie and an ‘emotional film’. He told me it was a ‘superb musical with excellent acting from Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway’. His favourite song was definitely ‘At the end of the day’, which ‘[he] just couldn’t get out of [his] head’. However, he felt that ‘the final scene where the cop jumps off the bridge was kind of overdramatized’. But overall, said he would probably watch it again.

Chloe, another viewer, said that she was ‘touched by the tragic, destitute lives of working people in that era’, and found the film ‘fantastic’.

Another theatre-goer said that he felt it was ‘too sad’ as a movie, and that ‘some parts were overdramatized’. He also said that some of the songs ‘didn’t seem to fit in with when they were sang…it that sense it wasn’t very coherent’. But even he couldn’t deny that the songs were very good, and called them ‘the best part of the film’.

Despite this, Les Miserables is a ‘fantastic’ and ‘emotional’ film is a must see for anyone going to the cinemas this February.