Station Screening - Les Miserables (2012, Tom Hooper)

"there are no little facts in the human realm, any more than there are little leaves in the realm of vegetation."

Victor Hugo

In 1815 Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is released from prison on parole. After being shown mercy by a priest he robbed Valjean vows to change his ways. Some years later Valjean has assumed a new identity and become a respectable factory owner but an encounter with Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), a former prison guard of Valjean puts him under threat. Having broken his parole Valjean is a wanted criminal and Javert is a relentless adherent to the law unwilling to compromise or show any compassion towards those he pursues.

There have been several film adaptations of Victor Hugo’s original 1862 novel most recently in 1998 with Liam Neeson starring in a lavish Billie August production, and more daringly Claude Lelouch’s 1995 epic which relocates the story to Nazi-Occupied France and stars the legendary French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. Hooper's movie is the first big screen version of the musical and rather than pre-record the actors he chose to have them sing live on set. Les Miserables the stageplay is the work of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil. Impresario Cameron Mackintosh brought the musical to London and turned the show into a worldwide phenomenon.

 Jackman’s background is in musical theatre so he is well suited to the part of Valjean. Crowe made his own minor contribution to popular music by fronting his own band in the mid-80’s under the pseudonym Russ le Roq. Rounding out the impressive cast are Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Helena Bonham-Carter. Director Tom Hooper started out in British television directing shows like Eastenders and Cold Feet, before graduating to prestige TV dramas like Elisabeth I (2005), Longford (06), and the mini-series John Adams (08). Hooper made his movie debut with an adaptation of David Peace’s acclaimed novel about Brian Clough’s brief tenure at Leeds United The Damned United (09). The unexpected success of The King’s Speech (2010) which became a massive box-office hit and an Oscar-winner put him on Hollywood's most wanted list. Les Miserables is up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards which are being held this weekend.