The novel, Les Miserables, written by Victor Hugo in 1862, was recently made into a movie. According to many users on rottentomatoes.com, it was a huge success as a musical and movie in general.

The movie is set in the 19th century in France. It hones in on a prisoner, Jean Valjean, played by Hugh Jackman, who breaks parole and starts his new life, all while his parole officer, Javert, played by Russel Crowe, hunts for him continually and later owns a factory of his own.
One of his factory workers, Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway, was fired. Fantine was in desperate need of money to provide for her daughter, Cosette, played by Amanda Seyfried, who she was caring for on her own. She became a prostitute and sold everything she had to provide for Cosette.

When Jean Valjean met Fantine, he realized she was sick and needed help. While Fantine was on her deathbed in the hospital, Jean made a promise to her that he would find Cosette and take care of her. He stayed true to his word and took Cosette along with him while he continued to run from his parole officer.

Rachel, a senior who read the novel, was excited for the movie. She was also skeptical about it being a musical that lasted an hour and forty minutes.

“I was weary at first, but they did an incredible job of using their emotions to create the most amazing scenes. I was worried that the singing would be distracting, but it was amazing,” Rachel said.

The director, Tom Hooper, and the casting crew auditioned many people to fill each individual character.

“The cast worked together so well and really made the relationships seem like they knew everyone their entire lives. They were endearing characters that made you feel their pain. It was extremely cool to experience that,” said senior, Kayla, who also read the novel and saw the movie.

Les Miserables came out Christmas day and is expected to stay in theatres until mid to late February.