Papillon Movie Review

“Papillon” is a story of survival. It is the story of the unbreakable spirit in a man named Henri Charrière. He was a safecracker in Paris in the early 1930’s. His nickname was “Papillon” for the tattoo of a butterfly on his chest (it is French for butterfly). He worked with a low-rent crime boss, and earned enough to impress his girlfriend. But when he failed to impress the crime boss, he was framed for murder and sent to French Guiana. That island off of the coast of South America was home to a horrible prison camp. He was sent there and never was expected to return.

Papillon (Charlie Hunnam) is a talented thief, and he is a ladies man. He has a sweetheart named Nenette (Eve Hewson) who wants to sell the diamonds that he just robbed go to live in the country. The trouble is, the merciless crime boss wanted to have all the diamonds that Papi stole, but Papi kept a few for himself. Big Mistake. Next thing Papi knows is that he is charged with murder and sentenced to serve at the penal colony at Devil’s Island in French Guiana. On the ship sending the convict to the prison island, Papi meets Louis Dega (Rami Malek). Dega is an artist and a forgery expert, who was extremely wealthy. Dega was able to carry quite a bit of cash in — ahem — Deadpool 2 would call it a “Prison Wallet”.

Papillon was big and strong and willing to fight off any goons who attempted to kill Dega. So Papi agreed to protect Dega, as long as Dega would finance any escape attempt for Papillon. The protection and the financing parts worked out fine. The escaping part did not. Papi was able to try and escape, but when he did make it out the front gate, he did not make it very far. Papillon was sentenced to internal solitary confinement for two years.

Part of that time, Dega was able to pay off a trustee to deliver a hidden coconut to Papillon in his isolated cell. When the warden found out, he demanded that Papi tell him who paid for the coconut. But Papi was loyal, and silent. There where other escape attempts, and soon Papi was spending more time in solitary than in general population. Louis Dega could not make it through confinement, but the warden trusted Dega to handle the prison financial books. He was able to be a position of security. More escapes were planned, and with some assistance they made it off the island and landed in Colombia. But the long French arm of the law found them again. Dega was sent to Devil’s Island, and Papi (again) to solitary confinement. He was there for such a long time that he hallucinated most of the time. Then he was sent to join Dega at Devil’s Island.

At the Island, there was no method to escape. There were impossible cliffs around the deadly jagged rocks at the base, where the waves would crash violently into the Island. But past the base, there was a gentle tide, and tide pulled out into the sea — and off to a current that lead to the mainland. If only Papillon could devise a way to get past the danger zone, he could float gently out to freedom. Dega would not dream of leaving the Island, even if it meant dying there. However, Papi — he could not live the rest of his life in captivity. He would finally escape, or he would die trying…

Charlie Hunnam is well cast and has a physical appearance that resembles Steve McQueen. McQueen played Papi in the original movie adaptation. Hunnan plays Papi as strong and shows a brutal willingness to do anything, just to survive. Rami Malek plays Degas with an air of sophistication that is above an ordinary convict. The way that all of the historical places are recreated is excellent. At the end of the movie there are black-and-white photos of the actual prison. They have been able to capture that quite well.

The reason that a remake of “Papillon” was required to be made now is unclear. But the effort that is made to make this movie will not make you think of trying to escape the theater.