A CLOSER LOOK AT "LES MISERABLES"

Photo from Wikimedia.

SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this review if you haven't seen the film.

A lengthy, complicated, heart-fiddling musicale of repentance, redemption, revenge, and romance, set against the backdrop of a post-French Revolution rebellion in the streets of Paris. This is my attempt at encapsulating the essence of Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables" which I saw yesterday.

I haven't cried this much for a film since Disney-Pixar's "Up" back in 2009 (and it was only during the first 8 minutes). From beginning to end, my eyes felt wet on the lids and I was gushing down streams at around the part leading to the June Rebellion. I don't know if it was the film and its effective storytelling, powerful acting, and dynamic cast that made me cry, or maybe I just found a lot of personal implications in it.

I can relate the most to Hugh Jackman's character, Jean Valjean, whose life of poverty, hardship, and constant runaway from the law is somehow reminiscent of our own puny lives. Everyday, we run the race of life alone, our existence shackled by empty stomachs and sins of the past. Valjean is one person who vowed not to be shackled by his circumstances in life. With his new-found strength in God and the compassion shown to him by people he met along the way, he put redemption in his hands and became a factory owner and mayor of a little French town.

His redemption became ever more complete when he decided to reveal his true identity, as the ex-convict who broke parole and assumed a different name, as well as during the time he saved Fantine (played by Anne Hathaway) from her own quagmire. Fueled by his promise to Fantine, his mission becomes even more meaningful as he searches for the latter's illegitimate daughter Cosette (played by Amanda Seyfried), and vows to raise her as his own daughter. He does this while evading the path of Javert (played by Russell Crowe), a French prison guard fixated on his moral and lawful duty of bringing the criminal Valjean to justice.

But in our own state of grace, we become selfish as well. Hence, Valjean tries his best to elude Javert who threatens to cut short his state of grace--his new found life with Cosette. This selfishness is also reflected in his reluctance for the blossoming romance between her daughter and Marius Pontmercy (played by Eddie Redmayne). All of us share Valjean's struggle between choosing humanity and self-preservation. In the end, he committed the primal example for all of us to follow: sacrifice our own pleasures out of love for our fellow human beings, which he does so by saving Marius from the barricades and setting the Javert free when he was captured and held hostage by the June rebels for spying among their ranks. At the end of life, when his happiness all seemed over, he asks God to take him away and he sees Fantine's spirit leading him to Parisian heaven together with the June rebels.

Photo from Broadway.com

The most captivating exercise of self-sacrifice, however, was that of Eponine (played by Samantha Barks), the urchin daughter of the Thenardiers who enslaved the young Cosette prior to her rescue by Valjean. Blindly in love with Marius, she does everything for him including locating the whereabouts of Cosette and Valjean, as well as preventing the Thenardiers from committing robbery at their home. Her biggest sacrifice though is when she disguised herself as a man, hoping to die with Marius at the barricades during the June rebellion. Her love, no matter how tinged with envy for Cosette, is pure and chaste, wishing only the survival of Marius, a love which she powerfully expressed in "On My Own" and on her dying breath at the barricades. Admittedly, these scenes are where I cried the most, finding parallels of my own blind faith in a romance that was long gone.

Russell Crowe surprised everyone with his ability to deliver lines in song for his role as Javert. Anchored on his moral and legal duty as an inspector, he vows to hunt down Valjean to the very end, only relenting when the latter shows him an act of compassion by sparing his life. With the loss of his "moral axis", the very compass that directed his life, he ultimately commits suicide at the end of the film. Anne Hathaway is just as superb, with her fitting portrayal of a mother-turned-prostitute who succumbs to consumption and longs for the company of her lost daughter at the very edge of her life. She has every right to diss Ricky Lo with such fantastic acting and grace.

The destitute lives of the plebeians of Paris during the June revolution are set into motion by a superb ensemble which includes Aaron Tveit, George Blagden, Killian Donnelly, and Fra Fee. Amidst the sentimentality of revolution, poverty, and romance, there are genuine moments of laughter through the antics of the swindling Thenardier couple played by Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen (who I mistook for Javier Bardem). Every character, even the child actors who played Gavroche and the young Cosette, pulls the right strings and pushes the right buttons with their excellent delivery, resulting in complete awestruck and delight if not buckets of tears. The cast definitely deserves the title of Best Ensemble/Cast for a musical.

In the end, "Les Miserables" sets the bar higher for a musical film; a bar previously held by equally magnificent films such as "Phantom of the Opera" and "Mama Mia". If you are into films with a lot drama, meaning, and purpose, rolled into a musical wrap, this is a film worth watching. You will surely find parallels in every character and their miserable but redeemed lives. TSS

MEDIEVAL FORCES

In 21^st century Philippines, there are still medieval forces lurking and attacking the very halls of freedom this country stands for.

Photo courtesy of PhilippineConcerts.com

I am talking about religious fundamentalism: the kind of religious fanaticism that attacks religious freedom and shoves their own religiosity down people’s throats. And with recent developments such as President Obama’s same-sex marriage stance, and the debate on the Reproductive Health bill, these medieval forces are once again volting in behind the guise of morality and respect for religious beliefs, to attack the very thing that makes this country liberal.

Its most prominent victim today is Lady Gaga. These medieval forces claim that the Grammy-award winning singer is the epitome of Satanism. From the lyrics to her famous hits, down to her flamboyant, rebellious fashion statements, it all cries foul with pagan and satanic stench. Not to be outdone by their counterparts in South Korea and Indonesia, these forces have also called for a ban on the singer’s “Born This Way” concert at the Mall of Asia Arena this weekend. Their approach may not be medieval at all, with placards and press conferences replacing stones and pitchforks, but the obsolete, if not redundant, ideology that goes with it is still very much potent. It is the same potent ideology that drove a certain “national hero” and “public servant” to issue anti-gay marriage comments when he is supposed to be training for his next fight. It is the same potent ideology that drove a certain beauty queen to bash the LGBT community on Twitter. It is the same potent ideology that brought hurt and discrimination to the hearts and minds of many innocent gays and lesbians, exterminated suspected witches and wizards in many parts of Europe in the medieval courts of Inquisition, and brought to life notorious criminals like the Ku Klux Klan and Osama bin Laden.

VARIETY SHOWS: A VARIETY OF VALUES

Willie and child/TV Grab

Variety shows have been part of our lunch time since the boob tube became a popular way of spending pastime here in the Philippines. It’s multi-million dollar entertainment industry that has become popular to both the poor masses and rich advertisers. It has built up the careers of many stars in the limelight today and remains one of the foundations of income for the major television networks.

But more than these, imagine what one or two hours of your daily variety show can do to someone’s values? You might think its simply entertainment, but that sort of statement would likely come from the more discriminating mind. For the common person, whose mindset has been filled with a gooey mess of oil price hikes, corruption scandals, low salaries and family crisis, it could do a lot – big time in fact!

Take the case of Janjan, the kid who’s making headlines this week after he appeared teary-eyed in Willing Willie while give his best macho dancing stunt on national TV to the coaxing of his parents and the show’s charismatic host. To the discriminating mind, what Willie Revillame did was outright child abuse. No wonder why the flak of bad press came from no other than the experts, scholars and the educated masses. But to people like Janjan’s parents, the immediate response was in support of the embattled show and its host. People, whose only hope for little boost in livelihood is variety shows, will definitely become instant apologetics of the industry. And that is a result of daily values formation from shows like Willing Willie, Eat Bulaga and the likes.

Imagine what variety shows are teaching us. If you see scantily-clad women dancing vigorously and provocatively on live television, what does this teach to our not so discriminating minds? Precisely. That its okay for women to show off their bodies on public in a malicious and temptuous manner. That’s its okay for women to make a living out of exposing their bodies. And if children are being asked to dance the same way, with a promise of a sumptuous reward after, what does it teach to their not so discriminating minds? That its okay at a young age to dance provocatively and earn a living from it. That kid could possibly think of becoming a macho dancer at age 18 and forgo plans of taking vocational courses and become a productive welder or sales manager. That kid could end up becoming a pimp at age 38, forcing other male teens to do the same as he did.

Imagine what variety shows justify in our already damaged values system. That it is okay to have plenty of children since they can always work for us and I don’t have to worry about getting a job at 40, that its okay to exploit women and children, and that its okay to queue in variety shows everyday instead of loaning funds for a small, profitable business or to apply for job.

Variety shows justifies beggar mentality and human rights abuse.

But don’t get me wrong. Variety shows weren’t supposed to be this way. They are supposed to help people help themselves, not help people exploit themselves and others. In the end, it was just a matter of a wrong values system both for the parents of Janjan and Willie Revillame. The show’s suspension and possible cancellation does not change the system. Variety shows will still be in question, and will still affect our values, just as everything we see on TV. The challenge now lies with the producers of these variety shows: what kind of values would you like to impart to your viewers? You cannot simply show anything you want and leave to your viewers the task of extracting whatever values they can get from behind the “parental guidance” label. Remember that majority of your viewers do not a have a very discriminating mind and do not always receive parental guidance. The bulk of responsibility in censoring and screening your content lies greatly in your hands.

Despite its glitz and glamour, the variety show industry could use some substance. I’ll be hoping for a positive response as the Janjan issue rests its case. TSS