I remember seeing Papillon (1973) a couple of years ago and I remember being glued to the screen for +2 hours. It was so damn good. I can honestly say that it's a classic, a master piece of cinema.
If you like prison movies you are going to absolutely love this one. It's right up there with Alcatraz or maybe even better.
Plot
The movie is an adaption of Henri Charrière's memoir Papillon, a real life story detailing his imprisonment and escape (or did he?) from a penal colony in French Guiana, a french colony in South America at the time. The prison was established for the purpose of dealing with hardcore criminals. As you can see from the map the whole Atlantic ocean separates them from their french homeland.
Henri Charrière (played by Steve McQueen) was a safecracker (thief) convicted of murdering pimp Roland Le Petit, a murder which he vehemently denies of doing, and sentenced to live imprisonment and years of hard labour in French Guiana.
On his way there Charrière a.k.a. Papillon (nicknamed for his butterfly tatoo) meets and befriends Dega (furthest to the right in the pic below). Dega (played by Dustin Hoffman), who is a white collar criminal, doesn't have the necessary toughness to survive in such a place so agrees to bankroll Papillon's escape attempt in exchange for protection.
Once they arrive there they're introduced to the warden who makes it clear escape is impossible. For each escape attempt the punishment for it will be harder each time.
Hard labour and small, poor food rations are the norm in the penal colony.
It doesn't take long for Papillon to try and escape.
How will Papillon try to escape, will he escape? I'll let you find that out for yourself.
Review
For me what jumps out at first is the setting of the penal colony.
It's a tropic paradise yet a hard labour prison in the middle of nowhere surrounded by endless amounts of ocean water and what looks like an impossible place to escape. That's quite the mental contrast for anyone.
Another thing you will enjoy about this movie is Papillon's display of endless mental fortitude and will to survive any hardship to escape to freedom. He will be put to the test many times, so much so even the viewer will be amazed.
Concluding thoughts
It's definitely a must watch. The will to live, to be free displayed by the main character is in many ways inspiring.
Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/5924-papillon?language=en-US
Critic: AAA
영화 URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/5924-papillon?language=en-US)
별점: AAA
A special shoutout to @rosatravels.
Her post brought me here.
Thank you for bringing attention to this project. I think I'm going to enjoy myself here.