Phenomenal, magnificent, brilliant –there are no words to describe the heart wrenching emotions that the cast of Les Miserables evoke into the masterpiece. The star studded cast that include Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sasha Baron Cohen, Samantha Barks and Eddie Redmayne bring the characters of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables to life and force the audience to love all of them.

It is evident that Tom Hooper, along with the astounding cast, poured his heart and soul into making Les Miserables come to life on the big screen. Hooper has brought the reality and modernity of Les Miserables to the film. Anyone can resonate with Fantine’s struggles as a mother and Valjean’s courageous will to be a man that possesses love and structure. “Fantine lives a block away. It’s a way of honoring the pain that lives in this world, “Hathaway said.

All of the vocal performances in the movie were filmed live because Hooper believed that it was necessary in order to evoke the emotions needed for each character. “I wasn’t just looking for great singing and great acting but I was looking for people who could act through the meaning of song. And instinctively understand the necessary shifting when you’re singing to a big room compared to when you’re singing to a camera in close up,” Hooper said.

All in all Hooper believed that the physical environment of the film wasn’t that important, instead the camera needed to bring out the mediation of the character’s face and focus on emotion.

Hooper’s ability to bring focus on real elements of life such as love, sacrifice and redemption is the reason why Les Miserables is an epic film that everyone will love and relate to. Everyone, no matter who they are, will be succumbed to love, sacrifice and redemption in their life because those elements are the harsh and beautiful reality of living.

Les Miserables is a movie that will make you cry as you feel the pain and happiness that the characters go through. By the end of the movie, there will not be a dry eye in the theater because you will feel like you know Fantine, Cosette, Jean Valjean, Javert, Thenardier and you will be able to relate their life to the reality of our world because they exist amongst us.

Les Miserables opens in theaters nationwide December 25, 2012.