*Saturday Special* Les Miserables

           This post will be slightly longer than usual, so if you’re not in the mood to read my humble reflections on the epic, the tragic, the one-and-only Les Miserables, feel free to skim. But I'll have you know, this movie has been on my mind constantly for the past three days…

 So I recently saw Les Mis on opening day, on Christmas, and without a doubt it was the most profound and moving experience I’ve ever had with a movie. In fact, I don’t even think it’s right to classify something like this as a movie. As expected, I was reduced to tears on multiple occasions throughout, and not sloppy, mushy, typical tears, but very special tears that were brought on by a very real grief. It made me cry, to the utmost sense of the word.

            It wasn’t only sadness I felt, however. Les Mis evoked so much raw emotion in me that I never even knew I had. Love. Redemption. Camaraderie. Revolutionary spirit. Maybe I was PMS-ing when I watched it, but I can’t say enough about it, and I can’t even say anything at all. It’s left me both full of things to talk about, and absolutely speechless. The acting was superb all around, so believable, authentic, and unvarnished. For a production of such magnitude, these actors and actresses have managed to whittle it down to its most simple and important elements but in a most subtle and complex way. Perhaps that doesn’t make sense, but I believe that’s exactly what they did.

 In a nutshell, this tragic tale of inherently good people placed in the worst of situations will inspire, astound, and break your heart. It will also, unfailingly, bestow you with a newfound obsession over Eddie Redmayne. Whatta guy. 

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Have you seen Les Mis yet? Thoughts, comments, criticisms?