After watching the movie Les Misérables, here is what I learnt:
It's completely sung through. This is also why it might be a challenge. I enjoy this musical because of this reason. It has a lot of dark imagery to represent the sadness of that time. Many of the character's die. This musical is called "Les Miserables" after all. It is set in the 1800's in France. It follows the life and journey of Jean Valjean after being released on parole. He decides to create a new life as a mayor and lives a decent life taking care of Cosette while running from his past life full of secrets and Inspector Javert, who is after Valjean. I learnt that even though most of this musical is sad, there is also some bright spots, such as new love between Cosette and Marius.
Continuing on, the scenes that stood out the most to me were the following:
-Fantine's death, because it was so emotional and you could see the pain in Fantine's eyes and how she longed for the days when her life was better and for Cosette. It was heartbreaking because something so terrible happened to someone so undeserving of such awfulness.
-Eponine's song On My Own, because it is one of my favourite songs in this musical. It really represents how Eponine is feeling and she gets to show how much she really loves Marius. This song is emotional and touches on the good and the bad of loving someone as much as she does and how this unrequited love is affecting her.
-Eponine preparing for the barricade. In this scene, we see just how far Eponine will go to be with Marius. She disguises herself as a boy so she can go to the barricade to keep an eye on Marius. This is a dangerous move as to be a part of the Revolution can mean death. This also shows how brave Eponine is. She could be risking her life for love.
-Eponine's death stood out a lot for me because it was Eponine sacrificing herself for Marius. She literally took a bullet for him.
-The final scene stood out the most for me because it is so powerful. It has all of the characters who passed away, all with flags, all seemingly less miserable... It shows how all of the characters are now at peace and living in freedom and unity. It is a great ending, even if it was sad. The ending shows that now that they are all in heaven, they aren't feeling any pain or suffering. They are finally strong, proud and maybe even happier.
Finally, some themes and motifs found were:
Flags- Flags are present throughout the musical. I first noticed a big French flag in the prisoner scene. I wonder if the flag could possibly represent how much France was in control over their citizens during that time. It was also completely drenched in water. The water soaked flag could symbolize how the hopes of the people of France were sinking. I remember the flags during the barricade scene were big and were being waved in the air proudly by the men of the French Revolution. Those flags seemed to make the men feel stronger and perhaps even gave them hope. The flags at the ending being waved by the people in heaven could represent how they are now at peace and are waving the flags to symbolize how their war is over and how they can finally have peace.
Religion- Religion is a theme that I found during the musical. I believe that it is present because it showed how when the people of France had nothing, they turned to their religion and God to give them hope. We see this when Jean Valjean is pleading that he will be forgiven and promises that he will become a better man. We also see many people asking to be forgiven such as Fantine in I Dreamed A Dream. When these characters feel like they have nothing left, they realize that they do have one more thing; religion.
Night/Dark imagery- Most of this musical takes place during the night to represent how this musical takes place during a dark and depressing time. You do not ever see direct sunlight. I wonder if the director chose to do this to create a sad atmosphere. I the only time you really see lots of light is in the final scene where everyone is in heaven. I believe that this shows how the characters don't live in fear anymore. They can now be happy. I believe that the night/dark imagery perfectly captures how the musical is meant to be sad.
