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I think this movie is an insult to the book (founded)

posted 17 years ago by deboas
35 replies | jump to latest

When i read the book over the last months i was truely impressed by nearly every page this man had written. Every story about the countless people he met was incredible. The way he describes spending two years in solitary and the way you have to think and make decisions to be able to get through his sentence alive is done in a perfect sensible way.

This movie scrambles the whole story up, neglects beatiful pieces of the book, and more or less remakes the whole story. The most wisest things are being said in the book, and i was really curious about how these would look in a movie, but i got very disappointed at seeing that they barely put these in and instead made up conversations to build up a different storyline.

Dega does'nt spend nearly as much time with Papillon in the book as is in the film, the book doesn't end the way the film does either. The final break is done with another prisoner, wich dies in one of the most horriffic ways you can imagine, with papillon being able to see it happen but not do a thing. These are things that make the story so powerfull, and the fact that the creators of the movie just swapped it for a different story is kind of bad i think.

ofcourse it is difficult to translate a book of this length (560 pages) to a movie of adequate length, but still, a book of this magnitude deserves better.

[–] peppe_ronio 14 years ago

I understand you although this movie is one of my favourites. I red Midnight Express and watched the movie within a week after I finished the book. What a load of *beep* the movie was, completely ruined the storyline of the book. So I think the only option is stop reading...

[–] rwsmith29456 14 years ago

I have wanted to read this book since the film came out. I have it and now don't care to read it because much of it is believed to be made up. When I feel like a fiction book, I guess I'll read it.

[–] overmatik 14 years ago

You are right. The bulk of the stories were made up, old stories or based on facts from other prisoners. He did`t escape in a coconut bag, and actually he was a regular prisoner who passed mostly unnoticed.

The book is great, but is fiction.

-------------------------------- Movie critics are mostly crazy!

[–] Hasjtracker 12 years ago

"I have wanted to read this book since the film came out. I have it and now don't care to read it because much of it is believed to be made up. When I feel like a fiction book, I guess I'll read it. "

Blahblahblurryblahblah.

I guess you either believe nothing at all or believe everything and more.When i feel like reading a total crap reply,i guess i read yours.

Henri Charrière is not as much a writer of fiction,but someone who's live is very easily verified.Courts and Authorities have the records of his prisonlife.So he maybe added a bit more drama,but his escapes,solitairy confinement,time spend on the british colony,Columbia and remainder of his life after the last escape are very well documented.

And dont forget a french minister said the moral decay of France was caused by miniskirts and glorifying a escape-addicted criminal.

Autobiography is something else then a novel.Maybe you will learn when wikipedia is no more then a small addition instead of your primary knowledge backbone.

[–] The_Low_Dweller 14 years ago

yeah. when i first saw the movie i thought it was great. after reading the book i saw it again and was really dissapointed at how different it was from the book. i would really like to see a version that stays more true to the masterpiece that charriere created.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] LightningLad 13 years ago

The book was a bowdlerized version of the truth, the movie probably got some parts more accurate. The main thing is it's one of the most gripping movies ever made.

-----
Reason is a pursuit, not a conclusion.

[–] p_banger 13 years ago

"The book was a bowdlerized version of the truth, the movie probably got some parts more accurate. The main thing is it's one of the most gripping movies ever made."

This.

And while most books are superior to their movie adaptations, anybody who calls this a "bad" movie probably needs to readjust their expectations--both of what can fit in 2 1/2 hours from a 560-page book and those of the screenwriters who adapted Charriere's work: action specialist Lorenzo Semple, Jr. and the legendary Dalton Trumbo.

In no way, shape or form is "Papillon" even a sub-average stand-alone piece of cinema. It's just that we want everything in our epic books to be crammed onto the silver screen, and to our continual, naive disappointment, that's just not possible (with a book half the length of Charriere's, even).

Frank Darabont even complained about the "tough decisions" he had to make cutting scenes from Stephen King's sub-hundred-page novella "The Shawshank Redemption"--and he's one of the most book-faithful directors in Hollywood!

"Papillon" represents Steve McQueen and Franklin J. Schaffner at their creative peaks--with Jerry Goldsmith not far approaching and Trumbo in the great twilight of his career. Judge the film on those merits, not for fidelity to a text of questionable fidelity itself.

[–] monsieurzy 13 years ago

erikriveros wrote: out of curiosity, have you ever seen a movie outdo the book it is derived from?

check out many of Hitchcock's British films from 1930s..he was great at taking dry stories and turning them into unforgettable films (and this includes The 39 Steps..a rather stodgy novel that became a classic film)

[–] monsieurzy 13 years ago

Day Of The Jackal (the original, not the stupid Bruce Willis remake) is a much better movie than the book...the whole steambath pick up scene is much more plausible than the poorly written section of the book

[–] tv_dinners 12 years ago

That's Allllwwwways been a problem between a movie and the book, tells us something we don't know.
Lets see you go out and make a movie on a budget and get every little thing in there..it can't be done. I think the director and the rest of the crew did a great job with this movie...So stop crying about how you could have done it better.

"We pruned the hedges of many small villages" (the three amigos)

[–] filip_ze 12 years ago

Off the topic, can someone send me Papillon book in english pdf?Or working download link? I cant find it anywhere.Thank you

[–] manas19782002 12 years ago

I absolutely agree with you.