This is my review of Les Misérables [DVD] [2012].

Coming to it with the “clean slate” of not having seen “Les Misérables” on stage, I find it hard to fault this film version of the musical. It succeeds in creating an epic spectacle which also captures the essence of Hugo’s masterpiece, designed to show the suffering of the masses, and to explore the issue of redemption in a world where social condemnation – of a mother abandoned by her lover, or a man forced to steal bread for his sister, can create “hell on earth”.

I was apprehensive about the reported length of three hours which turned out to be more like two-and-a-half, and passed without my feeling bored. Similarly, although I had feared that the delivery of virtually every line by actors rather than professional singers would be cringe-making, I soon realised that the sincerity with which they sing without losing the note gives a raw life to their performance which technically superior classical performances often lack. I admit I would not choose to listen to the film soundtrack alone.

Even if the music leaves you underwhelmed, there is a feast for the eyes and constant source of interest in the technically brilliant, imaginative sets.

Yes, the film is highly emotional, but that reflects the style of Hugo’s day, when being forced to watch the rapid decline and death of friends and relatives was a common experience, and deep poverty and suffering were widespread. The “love at first sight” romance between Cosette and Marius appears less important than the parallel tales which reflect what Hugo was trying to convey “a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life … The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end”.

I was impressed by the number and range of “good songs”. Apart from the well-known “I dreamed a dream” sung very movingly by Fantine (Anne Hathaway) who has been reduced to prostitution to feed her child Cosette, there is a rousing chorus delivered by the idealistic young revolutionaries at the barricades, complex love trios and quartets, and some striking solos such as Eddie Redmayne’s “Empty chairs and empty tables” reflecting the feeling of loss and utility in the aftermath of a battle. The child actors perform well: the young Cosette sings beautifully, and the cheeky Gavroche exudes confidence and energy in an Artful Dodger-style role.

Russell Crowe has been criticised for his weak singing, but I found it more than effective for the role of Javet, the inspector obsessed with tracking down Valjean who, sent to gaol for stealing bread, breaks his parole on being released after twenty years, but goes on to become a successful man, dedicated to living a good life. Crowe conveys well Javet’s growing sense of confusion that upholding the law means pursuing a former thief whose actions suggest he is a man of greater integrity than the inspector himself.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars

This is my review of Life of Pi [DVD].

Not having read the bestselling book on which this film is based, I came to the cinema with no great expectations, apart from thinking, as proved the case, that judging by the trailer this would be an excellent theme for 3D film and the use of CGI.

From the outside we are transported to the magical beauty of the Botanical Gardens of Pondicherry, where the oddly named hero Pi's father runs a zoo. Political pressures cause him to take a Japanese ship for French-speaking Canada, with his animals caged in the hold, but disaster strikes when the vessel sinks in a storm and Pi finds himself in a waking nightmare, confined to a lifeboat with a ferocious Bengal tiger inappropriately named "Richard Parker".

We know that Pi will survive the ensuing Odyssey, since he is narrating the tale years later to a young writer, but that does not detract from the tension of his struggle to exist, leavened by moments of humour and the astonishing beauty of vast starlit skies, oceans suffused with phosphorescence and a passing school of leaping dolphins. The striking scenes give you a real sense of Pi's loneliness, leading to a subtle identification with the tiger, and of his increasing sense of closeness to the natural world. This in turn helps you to appreciate how such experiences may give people a "sense of god", and Pi is, as we know, very susceptible to spiritual experiences anyway.

At some points the story turns to magical realism, which the computer graphics makes wonderfully vivid and somehow more plausible than might be the case in a novel. The mind plays tricks on people under stress, so we are left uncertain as to whether Pi may have imagined or even invented the story to replace a more mundane and sordid truth.

I recommend this film which can be enjoyed both as simple entertainment, or taken on a deeper level. But to do it justice, you must see it in 3D.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars

This is my review of The Hunt (Jagten) [DVD].

In yet another subtle and well-acted Danish film, we see how Lucas, the only male assistant to provide a bit of rough and tumble in a nursery school, finds himself sacked, charged by the police and a pariah in his tight-knit community when a normally truthful child appears to confide to the head teacher that Lucas has sexually abused her. From the outset we are given clues as to other events in the child’s life which might be affecting her actions, but which cannot be known to those investigating the issue. Through a series of all too believably blundering attempts to “do the right thing”, Lucas is condemned from the outset, wild rumours multiply as people are carried away by “groupthink” to turn against him.

The film skilfully points the finger at others who might be letting Lucas carry the blame for their own misdeeds, and even arouses our own occasional doubts as to his innocence. However, for the most past we feel outrage on his behalf, and a helpless sense of his compounded fate. All the main characters display some depth and changes in their emotions – in the case of Lucas, his natural gentleness and passivity giving way to bursts of retaliation.

The drama is set against a background of the deer hunts which bind the men together in a macho culture which may of course brutally cast out someone who seems to have broken a taboo, and the availability of guns adds a continual underlying threat of violence or tragedy. The film has the entertaining knack of following what seems like a happy event with a sudden twist back into suffering for the unfortunate Lucas.

Although the prejudice and hysteria in the community may seem a little exaggerated, the ending does not baldly “spell everything out” but leaves areas of ambiguity to provide food for thought. What should you do in a delicate situation which you cannot ignore but in which no action can be taken without damaging either the potential victim or the possible perpetrator, perhaps irrevocably? How can adults communicate effectively with confused children who may wish both to please them and conceal things from them, and also lack the language to express their feelings? How often do we make judgements without knowing the full facts, or even realising that this is the case?

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars

This is my review of Great Expectations [DVD] [2012].

It is hard to "give away the plot" of such a well-known Dickens classic but for those who do not know it I shall limit myself to the following: as a small boy, the orphan Pip is terrified by an escaped convict into smuggling him food and a file; the eccentric Miss Havisham summons Pip to her gloomy mansion as a playmate for her beautiful but cold adopted daughter Estella, whom she has brought up to break men's hearts; made dissatisfied with his humble lot through his contact with Estella, Pip is delighted to learn that he has "great expectations", a fortune from an anonymous benefactor and so can escape to a new life in London.

The film is true to the original novel in its main points, and is visually striking, in particular the scenes of the desolate Kentish marshes by the Thames where Pip's uncle runs a smithy, and the vivid contrast of London in all its grimy vibrancy. There is excellent acting from Ralph Fiennes, who conveys a sense of the convict's violence, but also his worthy aspirations and dignity. Jason Flemyng is effective as the simple but honest, decent and stoical blacksmith Jo Gargery, and Robbie Coltrane is suitably brisk and cynical as the lawyer Jaggers, who keeps dark secrets close to his chest. Jeremy Irvine makes a sensitive and sympathetic handsome hero, showing Pip's development in the difficult process of becoming a gentleman and coping with the source of his wealth. I was left unsure how convinced I was by either Miss Havisham or Estella: the problem is that the former is deranged and the latter is meant to have a heart of ice. Some of the minor characters failed to engage me. Pip's rival Bentley Drummle resembled an Elvis-lookalike bad lot out of the wrong age.

Stripped of Dickensian language, the plot is inevitably very contrived, and riddled with unlikely coincidences. The direction seemed a little rushed and unclear in places. Yet, overall, the film tells a good yarn, and is genuinely moving at times in exploring issues of class, revenge and the complexity of human nature.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

This is my review of Elena [DVD].

After such a slow start that I began to wonder if the projection had jammed, this proves to be an absorbing character study of a second marriage between Vladimir, a wealthy sexist pensioner and Elena, his former nurse, now a useful housewife and occasional bedmate. In this unequal relationship, Elena seems at first resigned to her dull yet comfortable routine, but we begin to see the quiet subversiveness with which she uses her credit card to provide food for her waster of a son, his long-suffering wife and children who live crammed into a grim concrete block of flats. Although aware of her son’s flaws, she does not see why his children should suffer, when Vladimir’s own wayward daughter is indulged through an accident of birth. Perhaps we see here a residue of the Communist ethos surviving in a fractured modern Russia where the less able languish in poverty whilst the successful live on a par with the most prosperous parts of the capitalist west. Certainly, the camera lingers on shots of both smart inner city streets and the sordid subways leading to rubbish-strewn wasteland round giant cooling towers cheek-by-jowl with high rise slums.

The film builds to quite a tense and absorbing drama, but disappointed me by an inconclusive and perhaps intentionally amoral ending which could have been more poignant, disturbing, surprising, ironical according to the turn of events chosen.

I believe that this film started off in the west on an apocalpytic theme, but was modified away from this when transferred to Russia, perhaps retaining a nihilist aspect. A little too long with a few superfluous scenes – such as the shot of a nurse stripping a bed or perhaps I missed the point – this is a visually striking, psychologically quite subtle film with an ending which I suspect will divide opinion.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

This is my review of Argo DVD [2013].

Ben Affleck has succeeded in both playing the lead role and directing an entertaining drama with “box office appeal” which also carries a serious undercurrent for those who seek it. Depending on one’s age, he reminds us of, or introduces us to the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 when fifty plus Americans were taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran by students calling for the deposed Shah to be returned for trial. This film focuses on the side issue of the six Americans who managed to escape and took refuge secretly with the Canadian ambassador, and of the CIA agent who devised what seemed like a ludicrous plot for their release by having them pose as a Canadian film crew assessing Iran as a location for a sci-fi film, “Argo”.

Affleck shows the boredom and fear of living in hiding for days with no prospect of escape as the Iranian authorities sift shredded photographs which will eventually prove that six hostages are missing. Clips of the torture of some American detainees are interwoven with chilling effect into the scenes of Tinseltown razzamatazz of a promotional exercise to raise interest in the bogus film. The final scenes are filled with tension but seem to have been hyped up since the original was insufficiently exciting to meet the expectations of current audiences. The ending was marred for me by a roller-coaster of too many coincidences – things, both good and bad, just happening to occur either to ramp up the fear or save the day.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

This is my review of Rust and Bone [DVD].

"Rust and bone" apparently refers to the taste sensed by a fighter after being punched in the mouth. It reflects the violent prizefights which form a thread running through this French film based on a short story by a Canadian author, Craig Davidson.

At the outset we see Ali, a hard up drifter with appealing small son in tow, trying to find work in the South of France. Employed as a bouncer, he extricates from a brawl Stephanie, an attractive young woman who intrigues him with her unusual job as a trainer of killer whales. Both share a love of physical pursuits and a desire to take risks and court danger.

Without introducing to many spoilers, this film is about the course of their relationship, underlying which is an exploration of how we may learn to cope with terrible adversity, yet also reassess our values and develop the ability to express our emotions after some major trauma. With some painful and moving moments, the film is never sentimental or mawkish.

Ali's strengths are linked to his weaknesses. He is a fearless risk-taker but often inconsiderate and negligent. He is easygoing, non-judgemental, free of prejudice, capable of acts of great kindness, but is often selfish, not seeming to care about others, not thinking through the consequences of his actions.

The drama is set against the background of poor working class people, often immigrants, struggling to make a living on the margins of society and the law, a subject which preoccupies the director Jacques Audiard judging by his earlier films e.g. "The Prophet" and "The Beat my Heart Skipped," both serious, moral yet also marked by an extreme violence which one senses must fascinate or excite the Director. I was at times made to feel a voyeur watching some intimate scenes, although I do not think this was the Director's intention.

The acting of all the main players is expressive and convincing, the filming skilful and realistic. My four stars recognise the quality of the piece, although I cannot say I enjoyed it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars