Matt Greene
This grim and gritty 70s prison drama is a heartbreaking argument for companionship, no matter who are or where life has led you. Sure, it's more than a bit laborious, especially once they're on the run. But there's so much disarming, trippy and downright scary filmmaking going on within dark drama to keep it afloat. McQueen is an absolute beast of strength and emotion; the solitary confinement segment is authentically rough, watching him slowly lose his sanity.
MisterWhiplash
Papillon is a story of what men will do in a time of crisis, such as being in a rather hellish penal prison colony run by the French on one of their islands. Steve McQueen was probably the only actor that I can think of from the period who could portray this character, at least if this had to be done the Hollywood way (of course the man was French, Henri Carriere, so this goes without saying not counting French actors; perhaps Belmondo could've pulled it off, who knows). But there's so much that happens in his story, spanning many years (seemingly decades, though it's never completely clear), that I kept finding myself thinking 'Ok, oh wow, what happens next?"' It actually isn't entirely a prison movie, it should be noted; the last hour mostly takes place when Papillon, his friend Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) and another prisoner find a way to get off of the island by boat. But I think the parts of the film I will remember for, well, forever, will be the scenes set in at the prison, and even those early scenes where the filmmaker, Franklin J Schaffner (via writers Trumbo and Semple), simply shows what the situation is: all these men put together, most if not all of them have done something likely prison-worthy, but for this place, this setting, an entire ocean away from their homeland is the thing. Indeed an early scene on the ship that takes the prisoners across the sea, and when Papillon first gets into trouble (one of those middle-of-the-night attack things) is just a small sample of what horrors await him.What Papillon and Dega have done does count, up to a point - these men are a safe-cracker who got a falsely accused murder rap and a counterfeiter respectively - and the actors make them vulnerable and just interesting to watch. So that by the time these men are having to watch all the time to not end up on a s***-list, it gets tense. And yet, it being Papillon as played by Steve frigging McQueen, the star of The Great Escape, we might hope that he has one goal: to get the hell out. But there's no special motorcycle to do a jump over in this case. When this character gets caught, he has to do more time - in solitary - which is around a 15-20 minute chunk in the middle of this film.I should be clear on this point: if you've seen certain scenes set in solitary confinement in other movies, this is one of the most brutal to watch if not just right up there (oddly enough perhaps the other McQueen's film Hunger tops it). We see Papillon stuck in a cell for what feels like a while - and it ends up being two years (!) - and the whole purpose, as he is told by the main prison warden, is to break him from mind to body, from head to toe. And one sees McQueen, giving it his all as an actor, becoming unhinged at a lot of points, eating bugs, having dream-hallucinations of his past in France and with his old friends (and dead fellow prisoners), and it's staggering work. Overall in this film I don't know if I've seen this man give so much for a character; for an actor who was often known for playing quiet, stoic types (and he could do it well), here it's more like hanging it all out. Which, when playing up against someone like Dustin Hoffman, it's a good idea not to be sleepwalking in a role.Papillon puts so many stakes for its characters, and yet what sets it apart from other prison-break-out movies are two things mainly: how bleak and unrelenting the pressure and suspense is, that at any minute everything can very feasibly fall apart (as the writing and direction make clear, this is a painfully realistic world, or a realistically painful one, same thing), and the location. It's beautiful in the jungles and beaches, but a lot of things can kill you (or people, like the lepers). The only real flaw for me is when the movie slows down just at point of the second to third act when Papillon winds up with the natives on the beach. There's no dialog, which is a nice experiment, but it drags the story down: up until then things have been epic in scope, but the pace is fast and it's all down to the story. If anything drags it, it's this unnecessary sequence.But by the ending, and it's really in the last 15/20 minutes that this tale gains some awesome pathos while still being a tough 'guy' movie, you see what this journey has done for these two men. The characters are built up so well enough, and portrayed with enough grit and honesty, that we care every step of the way (Hoffman really sells the nebbishness, but taking it from caricature to realism). Oh, and Jerry Goldsmith's score, which isn't constant but has enough for you to notice it, is a triumph of adventure/action/drama music for a movie of this kind.
jimbo-53-186511
Henri 'Papillion' Charriere (Steve McQueen) is given a life sentence for killing a pimp and is to serve his sentence at a penal colony in French Guyana. Whilst he's serving his time, he befriends master forger Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman). At first, the two men merely share a friendship of 'convenience' - Papillon offers to protect Dega from other prisoners who are trying to get his money and in return Dega promises to finance Papillon's escape once he gets to the penal colony. However, as time passes a much stronger bond begins to develop between the two men and they both decide to try to escape together.The first thing I'd like to address with this film is its running time and at close to 150 minutes it's a very long film and the problem is that it actually feels like a long film. The first half of the film is particularly long and drawn out and I couldn't help but feel that the film was badly in need of being edited a bit.Despite the above gripe the film is still engaging and at times it's very moving. As mentioned, Dega and Papillon's friendship was one of convenience at the start, but as the years pass by a strong bond began to exits between the men and each respective stage of this friendship is brought to life beautifully between Hoffman and McQueen.For me, the best part of the film was McQueen's first stint in solitary confinement. Here screenwriters Trumbo & Semple Jr really highlight how 2 years in solitary confinement can cause a gradual deterioration of the mind - the dream sequences and hallucinations really help to get into Papillon's mind-set and see what he's thinking. McQueen's performance really helps as well and when watching him here I really cared for his character and felt his pain... In truth at times I forgot that I was actually watching Steve McQueen as I've always felt that he's a bit of a mediocre actor (he was particularly wooden in Bullitt), but I was genuinely surprised how good he was here. The only slight downside with this aspect of the film is that I got no feeling that Papillon had been on half rations for 6 months; it probably would have been more convincing if McQueen had gone 'method' and lost some weight during production, but I realise that this is an actor's choice and it's possible that they may have had a tight scheduling limit. It's only a minor criticism and as I said McQueen was excellent here and throughout the film. Hoffman was good as well, but I already knew that he was a good actor, but McQueen was the real revelation here.Although this is a serious portrayal of man's desire to escape from prison the film does have some light hearted moments such as the scene where Papillon and Dega are trying to capture the crocodile - that bit was very funny. The film is also emotionally involving particularly towards the end - I got the impression that Dega didn't go with Papillon because he'd become somewhat institutionalised and perhaps saw Devil's island as his home. The fact that his wife left him as well may have also made him feel that he had no real reason to leave. That's just my assumption.Papillon is a good film, but it does drag at times and is far too long. As far as Prison escape films go then this is inferior to the likes of Shawshank Redemption, Escape from Alcatraz & The Great Escape. However, if you're a fan of those films then you should find plenty to enjoy here too.
