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Movie Review: Les Misérables

Mike Tyrkus
Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, and Djibril Zonga in Les Misérables

Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, and Djibril Zonga in "Les Misérables." © SRAB Films - Rectangle Productions - Lyly films

The new film Les Misérables should not be confused with either the novel by Victor Hugo or the Tom Hooper filmed version of the Broadway musical take on the story from 2012. While the themes of Hugo’s novel are buried deep in the heart of this new assault on the story of unease between the classes, it is a work totally of itself and signals the arrival of a remarkable filmmaker.

The film follows Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) as a he starts work on the Anti-Crime unit in Montfermeil, a racially-tense area of the Paris projects. His new partners Gwada (Djebril Zonga) and Chris (Alexis Manenti). When the three officers find themselves find themselves overrun after an unfortunate series of events the already escalating divide between the officers and the citizens of Montfermeil looks as though it will become irreparable.

Director Ladj Ly shoots the film in a hyper-realistic fashion that makes the viewer as much a part of the goings on as the players in the film. The deft hand and solid choices made throughout the film certainly cements the young filmmaker as someone to watch out for in the future. The screenplay, which the director co-wrote along with Giodano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti, never lets the audience catch a breath until the end when it may, or may not be, far too late to make a difference.

Although the story seems to be told primarily from Stephane’s point of view, there is not really a main protagonist to follow throughout per se. It is almost as though the film is abstaining from offering any sympathetic angles or solutions to the problems at hand, but rather is simply stating that these are those problems and something—whatever that is—must be done to address them. Simply put, there is almost too much here to unpack in a single viewing, let alone a short review such as this.

Suffice it to say, that Les Misérables may be one of the more impressive feature debuts to be produced in quite some time and easily makes one salivate for the next offering that Ladj Ly will grace moviegoers with. Should the Academy see fit to award Parasite the Best Picture Oscar this year, then Les Misérables is undeniably deserving of the Best International Feature Film award.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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