Hunnam plays the title character, a charismatic criminal who we see briefly in Paris before he’s framed for the murder of a pimp. He is sentenced to a penal colony in French Guiana, surrounded by murderers and monsters, but he spots a lifeboat before he even gets there. While being transported to the hellhole to which he has been condemned, Papillon meets a counterfeiter named Dega (Malek), a nervous fellow still optimistic enough to believe that his wife’s appeals will lead to his release. The wealthiest prisoners in this system bring money into the colony in chambers that are held in their rectums, and Papillon correctly presumes Dega has one of those. Papillon needs Dega’s money to plan an escape—Dega needs Papillon’s protection from everyone else around them. It’s a perfect match of brawn and brain.
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Papillon True Story
Papillon Movie 2018
Forty years ago today, the movie Papillon first appeared on American screens. Based upon the semi-autobiographical novel by Henri Charriere, the film chronicled the desperate life of a condemned. The new film version of “Papillon,” based on Henri Charriere’s 1969 best-seller and its 1973 sequel, “Banco,” is rather better than the previous screen adaptation star. Groupwise.
The conditions in the colony are brutal, including regular murders and assaults. And the warden lays down the rules to everyone on the first day: After your first escape attempt, you will be put in solitary confinement for two years; after your second, you’ll get five years alone before a transfer to the notorious Devil’s Island. Those who commit murder will be executed, via guillotine, in front of everyone. This is a place where hope dies, but “Papillon” makes it clear how much “Papi” and Dega inspired each other to survive. The director, Michael Noer, has claimed that his version, different from the books (which alleged to tell a highly-disputed true story) and the original film, is something of a “love story,” and it’s clear that his Papillon wouldn’t have made it without Dega.
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The biggest problem, however, is that Dega is woefully underdeveloped. Malek employs a few too many character tics and never quite grounds the role in something that feels like more than a showy device until the film’s final scenes (when he almost seems to be playing a different person). Hunnam makes out much better, giving himself over to the physical demands of the role in impressive ways. It’s nowhere near the achievement of James Gray’s excellent “The Lost City of Z,” but it is remarkable how much Hunnam looks at home in a different time period, almost as if he’s an actor born a few generations too late. He would have been huge in the ‘30s. He's an actor I'm always rooting for to find better projects, underrated in things like 'Lost City,' 'Crimson Peak,' and 'Sons of Anarchy,' and it's a shame his really solid work here isn't for a film that deserves it.