Jean Valjean (Neeson) is paroled from prison after serving 19 years at hard labor for stealing food. He is taken in for the night by a kindly Bishop (Vaughan), whose silverware he steals on his departure. When he is caught with the silverware, the bishop not only does not press charges, he also gives Valjean his silver candlesticks. With this start, Valjean reforms and becomes the mayor and leading businessman in a small town. But when former prison guard Javert (Rush) is transferred to become police captain and recognizes Valjean, his past life comes back to haunt him. Meanwhile, Fantine (Thurman), one of Valjean's employees, has had a baby Cosette out of wedlock and is dismissed from her job while Valjean is away; when he finds this out (far too late), he takes responsibility for them.

Despite receiving disappointingly little attention on its release, Les Miserables is a superb attempt to turn an epic novel into an epic film. Terrific performances, a solid script, and handsome cinematography combine to make an exceptionally moving cinematic experience.

Based of course on the classic novel by Victor Hugo, director Bille August and screenwriter Rafael Yglesias had a tough challenge trying to downsize the 1500+ pages of exposition into a workable film script. They have done an admirable job. The film is intelligent, focused, and blessedly free of any cheesiness or audience pandering. It's emotionally affecting without being overly sentimental. The script concentrates its main attention on Javerts pursuit of Valjean, condensing or expelling many of the subplots. This has of course upset a lot of Victor Hugo purists, but it's really the only sensible way to film the novel.

Neeson has never been better as Valjean. He portrays him as a man who while brutish by nature having been transformed by an act of good will spends his life struggling to do the right and noble thing. His Valjean is an example that a person can be who they want to be, they can change if their will is strong enough. Rush's Javert on the other hand believes that a person can not change, he believes that a person will always return to their inherent nature, hence his relentless pursuit of Valjean. He still believes that Valjean is a criminal. Javert is not a simple villain in this story, he truly believes he is doing the right and good thing. His heart is in the right place but his ideas are misplaced. Rush presents his character very well with a strong portrayal.

This aspect of the story is the central focus throughout, but there are several important subplots, most notably to begin with, Fantine's story. Uma Thurman gives an extremely emotive performance as a factory worker who gets fired for having an illegitimate daughter and must turn to prostitution to provide for her. When Valjean finds out about her plight he rescues her all but too late. The lonely Valjean and the neglected Fantine form a touching union.

The first half of the film is really well done and builds up to a moving climax. The story then moves forward 10 years and while becoming slightly less effective it still remains a poignant drama.

Valjean has been forced to hide inside a convent for a decade to evade Javert with Fantine's daughter Cossette - who is ably played as a teenager by Claire Danes. It is a lonely existence, but Valjean has effectively made himself his own prisoner. It's Cossette's growing curiosity with the world around her that drags the two out. Cossette begins a tentative romance with a rebellion leader Marius - played by Hans Matheson - which inadvertently leads Javert back to Valjean resulting in a final confrontation set against the back drop of an uprising of the people.

Les Miserables is a film that should appeal to most fans of quality period dramas, its high points being its strong acting, high production values and compelling themes. The makers have wisely played down a lot of the out of date political overtones of the novel and instead focused on the universal themes of redemption and love. The straight forward an honest story telling is also surprisingly refreshing in these 'post-modern' times. Warmly recommend.

Uma got high praise from critics for her performance as Fantine in what may be her best role since Pulp Fiction. She gives a totally consummate and very moving performance despite again being restricted by the limitations of her role, in this case a lack of screen time.

Uma does however do all that can be done with the character, making the most out of every scene. She seems to relish the opportunity to literally wallow in the muck with this role. Most affecting for me was the way she captured a mothers love for her daughter, and how she showed that Fantine was selflessly doing everything for Cossette. It was nice to see her in such an emotional and 'human' role after the absurdness of some of the other characters she was playing during this stage in her career (namely Poison Ivy and Emma Peel). Great work like this in quality supporting roles can't help but get Uma offers of more substantial parts in the future.

It really is a pity that Les Miserables was so ignored by both the media and the movie going public. I don't understand why the studio gave it so little promotion. It's almost as if they didn't have faith in it, but the very good reviews the film received prove it could have been a bigger success if they had just pushed it more. Although there is the plus side that the film was never clouded by award season hype or anything like that, it was allowed to stand on its own two feet. Now people will be able to discover it with an open mind (apart from Victor Hugo purists of course, but that's what purists are for).

Uma On why she took the role:"Well, it's a great part, and I've always wanted to work with Bille August -- I've been sort of after him for a long time in my mind as one of the directors that I thought was really artistic and special. I try to work with those kind of people, try to get them to hire me. He offered me this part and I felt that I had some insight into it. I felt that she was a beautiful character, a beautiful person who had a legitimate, poignant, traumatic historical experience."