The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Award winning director Tom Hooper takes on the challenge of adapting this story of struggle, justice, love and freedom to the big-screen – and does so with grace, power and beauty.

The story is set in 1815, France.  It’s several years after the French Revolution and the country’s situation is foreboding and cruel – the rich are only getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  Jean Valjean (Jackman), a man who has been imprisoned for 19 years for stealing to feed his family, is finally released.  The discharging officer Javert (Crowe) holds no sympathy for Valjean, believing that a man is not capable of change; once a thief, always a thief.

Back in the real world, Valjean struggles to make ends meet.  Being a former convict, he is soon shunned by society and desperate, he once again resorts to stealing. However, this time instead of getting sent back to prison, he gets pardoned by a kind priest who provides Valjean with a few pricey possessions to start a new life.

Several years later, Valjean finds success. Going by the name Monsieur Madeleine, he is a proud factory owner as well as the Mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer – a small town in Northern France.

As a man who has never forgotten his cairorevamp_users, Valjean shows sympathy for one of his factory workers, Fantine (Hathaway), who was wrongfully thrown out on the streets by the factory floor manager and now works the streets as a prostitute. Promising to take care of her young daughter, Cossette (Allen/Seyfried), who is enslaved by the devious innkeepers Mr. Thenardier (Cohen) and Mrs. Thenardier (Bonham Carter), Valjean must also find a way to stay ahead of his archenemy, Javert, who is closely at his heels.

A lot of effort was obviously invested in the set-design, make-up and costumes; murkiness and misery plays as the backdrop to the story and all of the elements blend in beautifully; from the torn up rags to the sweeping overhead shots, the cinematography really goes beyond imagination.

As the star crossed lovers, Seyfried and Redmayne (who plays Marius) work  well together and Bonham-Carter and Cohen provide some much needed comic relief as the mischievous, pick-pocketing innkeepers . The only weak link is Crowe; he seems to have a little trouble hitting the high notes, but his passion and portrayal of the villain ultimately works.