Les Miserables the musical, directed by Thomas Hooper, was released on December 25, 2012 in the United States. Les Mis had won several Golden Globe Awards including best actor for Hugh Jackman, best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway, and best motion picture musical or comedy.

The original novel was written by Victor Hugo in 1862 and was later turned into a musical by two French writers: Alain Boublil with Jean-Marc Natel. The music was composed by French composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, and the first musical premiere of Les Miserables was in September of 1980 in Paris.

Hooper’s movie adaptation opens in 1815 with Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), who has been in prison for 19 years for stealing food for his starving sister and her family, as he has been set free. Javert (Russell Crowe) keeps an eye on Valjean as his parole officer. Yet, Valjean is able to change his life around and eight years later he has managed to become the owner of a factory where he is able to help others, including Fantine (Anne Hathaway) and her child, Cosette, (Young: Isabelle Allen Older: Amanda Seyfried).

In previous musical adaptions, the cast would record the show in a studio and playback the music while lip syncing to the song while on set. The studio recordings would force directors to make choices months before they meet their actors. Hooper decided to forgo this and recorded the actors singing on set as they acted out their roles. The live recording led to a more realistic experience of how the musical show would have appeared on stage.

The movie has done a great job interpreting on how the story would work out and it’s a nice alternative to  seeing the classic story if you are unable to see the show live on stage. Even if you are not into musicals, this is a great story of struggle and triumph that anyone can enjoy.