Papillon movie review

Movie Title:   Papillon

Grade:  B+

Rating: R, 136 minutes

In a Nutshell:  I’ve always been fascinated by prison movies.  This gritty remake is well done and is based on the best-selling memoirs by wrongfully convicted prisoner Henri Charriere in 1969 called Papillon (P.S.)
I really liked the 1973 Papillon movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Golden Globe nominated Steve McQueen.  Their performances were a hard act to follow, but Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek are definitely worth watching if you can handle a much more brutal, realistic version of the story.

 Tips for parents: 

• Topless women in a smoky nightclub
• Lots of F-bombs and profanity
• Very bloody and brutal violence
• Dead bodies
• Unmarried couple in bed
• Naked backside of men in a shower and during a fight
• A man gets decapitated.
• Starvation and suffering
• Crime and criminals

Uplifting theme: 

• Friendship
• Loyalty
• Persistence
• Freedom and free will
• The human spirit

Things I liked:

• • I first noticed British actor Charlie Hunnam in  Cold Mountain.  He only appeared in the first season of Sons of Anarchy: Season 1 and then reminded me how great he was in The Lost City of Z .  He looks like a lovely, hunky blend of Heath Ledger, Chris Hemsworth, and Channing Tatum.  He is absolutely fantastic in Papillon.  I’m always so impressed with the commitment of actors to lose or gain weight in order to play a certain role in a movie.  In this case, Hunnam lost 40 pounds to show the dramatic transformation during Charriere’s solitary confinement.  Wow.  Even more impressive was Charlize’s commitment to gain 50 pounds to play the role of an exhausted, new mother in Tully .  Her performance was truly outstanding.
  • Rami Malek was also fantastic in this movie.  I can’t wait to see him in the upcoming Bohemian Rhapsody film this Fall. Check out the Bohemian Rhapsody: The Official Book of the Movie  He has proven that he’s extremely versatile.
  • I have a dog whose breed is called a Papillon.  The word is French for butterfly.  The dog breed is famous for the ears which look like butterfly wings.  Check out this adorable Just Papillons 2019 Wall Calendar (Dog Breed Calendar)  So cute!   In the movie and book, Papillon was Charriere’s nickname because of the butterfly tattoo on his chest.
  • Solitary confinement.  Yikes.  Have you ever wondered what you would do in solitary confinement?  I’d like to think I’d use that time to exercise and reflect on the meaning of life, but I’d probably just lay on the floor in a puddle of tears the entire time.  One of my favorite prison movies is The Count Of Monte Cristo .  Another one I really like about a man wrongly sent to jail is An Innocent Man .  If this movie gets you in the mood, one of the best prison movies EVER is The Shawshank Redemption
  • You get to see footage of the real camp in France.

• The musical score was subtle, yet very effective.  Jerry Goldsmith was nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score for his work in the 1973 original Papillonmovie

Things I didn’t like:

•  This is a really long movie.  It FEELS long and you’ll be exhausted by the end.
• It’s really brutal.

Interesting Lines:

• “What’s the son of two school teachers doing in a place like this/” – Louis Dega (Rami Malek)

@trinaboice