Review of Papillon (1973) by Janne T — 12 Nov 2008

I've always seen Steve McQueen as a cool, self-reliant, almost exaggerated portrait of smooth operator. In Papillon all that is gone and that's the reason why this film is so good. In The Great Escape McQueen had superhuman features in captivity as he annoyed the Nazis by throwing his baseball against the wall of his solitary confinement. There's a different tune in Papillon. McQueen's character Papillon turns slowly from a headstrong man to a miserable human being in solitary. Imprisonment disarms him and he enters a world of double-crossing and disappointments as he tries to escape.

That is the strongest stuff this movie offered but some weaknesses stole away the most sturdiest thunder. Especially one scene (even at the risk of spoiling I'm going to nag about it), a scene with the natives in Honduras, felt out of place and I didn't even notice any sensible transitions to it. It also made the already lenghty movie feel a bit tedious. Luckily, the spot on ending saved the day and was very impressive indeed.