movie review - Papillon
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Kokubunji, 2021.01.07
This is a gritty telling of true events in mid-Century France. A petty thief is wrongly accused and convicted of murder, and is sent to a penal colony in French Guiana. The conditions are so bad - so brutal - that he attempts repeatedly to escape. The casting is superb, the sets have to be seen to be believed, and the story starts with a certain tone and remains pretty true to that throughout. The characters behave as you'd expect under the circumstances, and the outcomes for each - while uniformly tragic - are suitable.
Once he's finally out, our horrified hero writes the story of his many lost years.
Strongly recommended.