Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream"

Anne Hathaway's role as Fantine in the musical movie adaption of "Les Miserables" was the only good thing in the entire movie. No offense to the other actors, but I really didn't give a damn about any of them. And it wasn't their fault, really, but rather of the bad writing.
As short Anne's role was, there was more story and emotion in her little performance than in any of the other characters', and to top it off; after Fantine has suffered for who knows how long, she sings us a serious one-shot take of the song "I Dreamed a Dream". And as you follow those watery eyes surrounded by darkness, in combination with her trembling voice, you feel that sadness the character feels. That's how you make people give a damn.
Anne deserves all those awards.

I've never seen or read Les Miserables before this movie, and to be honest, I'm not eager to. This movie alone takes too long with some of its songs, there are too many things going on that are not fully explored, and the romance is so rushed, it would make Disney roll their eyes. It's a pretty bad introduction to a story that might be good.
I understood the book is very big and probably does a better job explaining the characters and their story arcs, as always, but I don't want to read a book that'll probably take me a lifetime to finish.
I'm sure I won't enjoy the broadway shows either, even though there are people claiming the songs are way better. Which I don't agree with, per se.

Sure, you can say the broadway performances are good, but I'm not digging the emotionless standing still like a plank in front of the microphone. If you're going to sing a serious song, you'd better do "something" with those arms. You're not giving people much to look at.