sporcopoeta
I haven't yet seen the remake and don't know if I want to. This is a perfect film in every way. It's shot beautifully and there's really no reason to make it again. It's not like it's a silent film or in black and white, or was poorly acted. It's Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman at their best for Christ's sake. And a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. What more could you want?I must have watched this film 10 times back when it came out and for the following few years after, and I just went back to view it again. I've always said, as so many others in these User Reviews have stated, this is one of the most underrated Hollywood films in the history of cinema. Franklin Schaffer was at his best. He didn't nominated for an Oscar and nor did the film. What an oversight. It's one of McQueen's best performances ever, and that's saying a lot. He got a Golden Globe nomination but no Oscar nomination. And overall, this film and the talented team that made it, never got their due.Papillon (the original) is and will always be in my TOP FIVE FILMS OF ALL TIME.
alexanderdavies-99382
"Papillon" is the closest I've seen Steve McQueen attempt to actually act. He was never an actor, he simply stuck to a certain image and that was it. To be fair to him though, he did make some outstanding films. Several of his films were box office successes, including the above. Dustin Hoffman is the actor to watch, he conveys vulnerability as well as intelligence as a fellow inmate. From the first moment of "Papillon," you never forget the harshness and cruelty that the prison staff inflict upon the convicts. The living conditions for the latter are thoroughly deplorable and these are shown via scant lighting and arched camera angles. Steve McQueen is the convict who never confirms to the prison system, his fighting spirit remaining active throughout. This is McQueen's last film of quality and it is a masterpiece.
sharky_55
This is a film that I think had all the potential to be a classic. Based on the memoir of the same name that I'm sure had an embellishment or two, about a tale of survival and escape and perseverance, and headed by a genuine movie star in McQueen. In spots, it can be great. There is a moment right after the trio escape the prison, that Dega falls down in agony while Papillon discovers that the boat they had been promised is rotten and no good. McQueen bursts into an uncharacteristic rage at the man he has just spent 2 years in solitary confinement for, and it could have been a visceral moment of pure emotion, having been foiled after the escape they had planned for so long, but it loses its power because McQueen chooses to put on this overwhelming sneer, which feels petty rather than being born of desperation and fear of once again being a prisoner. Both of them are convincing enough. Hoffman's Dega wears a pair of spectacles that balloon his pupils and give him this distinctly endearing geekiness. He frequently slips into his past persona as if he was once more selling counterfeit war bonds, and appealing to men and their patriotic pride and generosity. These sort of conniving salesmen are easy to befriend and to gain trust, but does it ever go beyond that? Papillon may be a better man than I, because it was hard to identify anything in their friendship that was worth those two torturous years in a dark cell. He tears up upon the end of that sacrifice, and as he makes his final leap to freedom, but is there really any substance to warrant it? It has trouble deciding what sort of film it should be. There's humour when Dega's intentions of luxury are foiled and we cut suddenly to the backbreaking Kilo 40, and when they encounter a crocodile and banter over who removes it. When Papillon is abused by the prison guards, the soundtrack balloons and exaggerates the hit and zooms in eagerly just to make sure we understand the impact. And there are several hallucination/dream sequences, which seem to belong to another film altogether, but speak so plainly and vaguely of themes that could apply to almost anything. These are much less effective than McQueen himself. In the most haunting scene, he mutters a wish to confess, but painstakingly resists the urge. He holds back tears, his lips tremble, and we can see every ounce of pain and sheer will in the bloodshot eyes of a man who so diligently values and chases his freedom, and chooses to forgo it for a friend. Later, as he leaves his second spell of confinement, this one 5 years, we see its effects via makeup that have made his body weak, his hair white, and his speech haggard, but it does not seem as bad as before. This is an issue of pacing; we spend entirely too much time in the first prison, and little after it. It seems to be a 2 hour film that has somehow conjured an extra half an hour in excess. There is an wordless sequence where Papillon stumbles upon a native colony, and somehow manages to befriend them and even find romance, and it is the most clichéd, insufferable and unnecessary segment of them all. Similarly, they also stumble upon a leper colony, and Papillon is once again a hit, treating them with empathy as if they were human beings too and gaining their assistance, but at least this is done with sincerity. Schaffner's biggest triumph is that it feels epic in scale. The focus stretches into infinity and shows just how isolated the prisoners are from the modern and civilised world, but also how beautiful and crazy the wild is. As they talk of escape with desire in their eyes, the endless sea's horizon bobbles in the background. Silvers of light in the cramped boat hold reveal the shiny sheen of the prisoner's sweaty bodies. They work in the forests, rain, hail or sun. As Papillon is dragged to confinement, they pass a idyllic beach-front, which is swapped for the grimy grey walls that he loses sanity in. Koenekamp silhouettes characters at golden hour paddling upstream, on pure white Hawaiian-style beaches drinking coconut juice, and atop the cliffs of Devil's Island, which contrary to its name, is covered in palm trees, piglets and streams full of crayfish. It seems like paradise, at least according to Dega, but is is not freedom. And in the final shot, we glide over and reveal the triumphant Papillon, who shouts jubilantly even as he has miles and miles of deep blue ocean still to traverse. This could have felt magnificent, but it is merely satisfying.
