The song, Suddenly, from Les Miserables (2012) is up for an Academy Award. Some have claimed it is the only song which was added to the movie, and all the other songs in the movie were in the stage play.

However, my favorite new song from the movie is Gavroche’s. Technically, maybe it’s ‘just’ a new verse inserted into an old song, Look Down. But what a wonderful verse it is!

There was a time we killed the King;
We tried to change the world too fast.
Now we have got another King;
He is no better than the last.
This is the land that fought for liberty –
Now when we fight we fight for bread!
Here is the thing about equality –
Everyone’s equal when they’re dead.
Take your place!
Take your chance!
Vive la France! Vive la France!

I should write a lengthy review of the movie. However, for now I will give a short one:

Loved it.

Both thumbs up, along with the other 8 fingers, for a double high five.

Everything they added to the musical made the movie closer to the novel; everything they subtracted from the musical made for a better movie. The casting was excellent. The singing wasn’t stage musical quality, but the acting was great. It’s a movie, not a stage musical. Those who go expecting a Boadway musical movie in the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition will be disappointed. However, those who originally went to the stage play expecting Rodgers and Hammerstein were also disappointed. Rodgers and Hammerstein are dead. (They have been dead for over 30 years. It’s time to move on, don’t you think?)