Review

by Natacha V

fantastic

Claude Lelouch pulls off quite a feat in creating one of the most faithful adaptations of the Victor Hugo classic whilst only occasionally depicting scenes from the novel. Transposed to the time of the Nazi occupation of France during WWII it mainly follows the strands of two groups of characters - the Ziman family fleeing persecution due to their Jewish background, and Henri Fortin - a big-hearted ex-boxer who helps them in exchange for reading him Les Miserables, after he is compared to the novel's hero, Jean Valjean. This really is an epic in every sense of the word, but not a minute is wasted and the near-3 hour running time flies by. Having not read the book for many years I'd like to watch it again after re-reading it as I'm sure there's even more to be gained from Lalouch's masterful film through a decent understanding of the original text. A great adaptation.