Papillon

Movie Review: Papillon

Year of Release: 1973
Country of Origin: USA, France
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman

Plot outline: A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape (IMDb).

Based on a memoir of the same name by convicted felon Henri Charrière, the first time I watched Papillon it had a profound effect on me, especially the final set on Devil's Island where Steve McQueen's physically and mentally abused, but spiritually refused to be defeated Henri "Papillon" Charrière and Dustin Hoffman's shattered and on the brink of insanity Louis Dega are reunited again after their failed attempts to escape. Watching Papillon's thin figure, gray hair and rotten teeth and Louis Dega's also thin figure and talking to pigs moved me to tears. Their roles must be physically demanding. Both actors perform with total conviction - one of the finest acting of their careers, as they create quirky but sympathetic and believable characterizations. Brutal treatment of prisoners has been explored on the screen before, e.g. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, but this movie present a graphic expose of the conditions prisoners must face under the worst sort of environment. It certainly has a lasting effect on me, the similar effect I felt when I watched the 1968 Planet of the Apes by the same director, Franklin J. Schaffner. He surely gives rise to some of the great epics of human courage and fortitude. The setting is great and Jerry Goldsmith's musical score is arousing. The first half of the movie is deeply compelling (e.g. the sequence of Papillon in the isolation perfectly depicts loneliness and boredom). The middle part is a bit sluggish in pacing (the sequence of native villagers runs too long). But it gradually reaches the high notes again toward the end with the final sequence of Papillon trying to convince Louis Dega to make one last attempt for freedom ... it swells the emotions within me (!) It also represents one of the movies' most moving and effective sequences. Unfortunately, except for Jerry Goldsmith's musical score, this movie was grossly overlooked by the Academy and became one of the most underrated movies of the 1970s. Most critics attacked it on it's released, accusing it of being too long. I can forgive that, as that's a minor fault. Overall, Papillon is an outstanding movie. It's one of my personal favourites.

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars