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PAPILLON (2018)

"Freedom Brings Hope"

NoneLightModerateHeavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

Based on a true story, PAPILLON (2018) is a remake of a 1973 movie. A French thief in 1931 Paris keeps some stolen diamonds from his gangster boss, so the boss frames him for murder. Nicknamed Papillon because of a butterfly tattoo on his chest, the thief is imprisoned for life on a brutal penal colony in French Guyana. On the trip there, Papillon befriends Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who’s hidden some money in a small hollow metal cylinder in his body. Papillon agrees to provide protection to Dega, if Dega uses his money to help him escape.

This PAPILLON (2018) remake sticks close to the original, but better. First, it’s shorter, more streamlined. Second, it shows why Papillon was framed for murder and generates more sympathy for his passion for freedom. That said, the remake has a humanist worldview, though its theme of freedom sometimes achieves a spiritual quality. One striking point is whenever Papillon risks severe punishment by helping others, especially his weak friend. Sadly, PAPILLON (2018) contains brief extreme violence, brief nudity, some “f” words, and some strong profanities. Extreme caution is advised.

Content:

(HH, Ab, BB, LLL, VVV, S, NN, AA, D, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong humanist worldview about a thief framed for murder who keeps trying to escape from brutal French penal colonies (sometimes with other convicts), with a scene where a nun who tells men to repent comes off in a negative, sourpuss kind of way, plus a moral appreciation for freedom and title character helps his fellow convict friends, especially his buddy, when problems and hardships come their way, and he refuses to name his friend, who gave him some money to help him escape, and who snuck a coconut into his rations while he was in solitary confinement, to the warden;

Foul Language:
About 31 obscenities (including at least 14 some “f” words), eight strong profanities (half GD and half mentioning Jesus), and one light exclamatory profanity;

Violence:
Brief extreme violence and some strong intense violence includes tough prison guard starts to whip a weaker and smaller convict and convict’s friend uses rock to knock guard unconscious, but guard survives, a man trying to murder another man is stabbed multiple times to death, another stabbing occurs, the authorities use a guillotine to chop off one man’s head because a guard was died during an escape attempt, images are shown of man’s head afterwards, two convicts carry body of executed man that’s wrapped in a shroud to bury it, man’s face is bloodied from being beaten, and he’s barely conscious as gangsters take him out to finish the job of killing him and dumping his body, guards punch man several times, men turn guns on escaping convict because the warden will give them more money than the convict will give him, and warden gives convict in solitary confinement half rations for a long time when he refuses to name his friend, who managed to sneak a coconut into convict’s meager rations;

Sex:
Implied fornication in one scene, and women are half naked in bar scene with possible hints of prostitution;

Nudity:
Upper and rear male nudity in one scene where men are taking showers includes obscured images of full male nudity from a distance, images of upper female nudity in one scene, an island native girl is uncovered in another scene, and other scenes with upper male nudity in a prison;

Alcohol Use:
Alcohol use and brief drunkenness in a couple scenes;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
Smoking and drinking guards are drugged with stolen sedatives as part of an escape plan; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Man cracks a safe and steals from diamonds but keeps a few diamonds and a necklace from his boss, convict is shown escaping at least three times.

More Detail:

Based on a true story, PAPILLON (2018) is a dramatized remake of a 1973 movie about a French thief, who was framed for murder and spent years in brutal French penal colonies, including Devil’s Island, but who always dreamed of freedom.

The movie opens in 1931 in Paris with Henri, a safe cracker nicknamed “Butterfly” or Papillon because of a tattoo on his chest, opening a safe. He returns to his gangster boss, the man who gave him the job, and hands him the diamonds he took from the safe. The gangster hands Henri some money for the job. Then, as one of the gangster’s minions beats up a man in the background, Henri assures his boss he didn’t take any diamonds for himself.

Henri’s assurances are shown to be a lie in the very next scene as he and his girlfriend go out for a night on the town. He gives her a diamond necklace and shows her the diamonds he kept for himself. Henri plans to use the diamonds to leave his life of crime and leave Paris with his girlfriend. Unhappily for Henri, a snitch on the street sees Henri hand the necklace to his girlfriend. The next morning, the police come to arrest Henri for the murder of the man who was beaten up in the previous scene.

Cut to several months later, and Henri has been convicted of murder and given a life sentence. After saying goodbye to his girlfriend in prison, Henri is shipped off to the government’s brutal penal colony in French Guyana. On the trip there, Henri befriends Louis Dega, a counterfeiter, who’s hidden a cache of money in a small hollow metal cylinder in his body. Henri agrees to provide protection to Dega if Dega will use some of his money to help Henri escape.

As Henri and Louis try to survive the brutal conditions at the jungle prison, Henri plans an escape. The escape fails, and Henri ends up in solitary confinement for two years. Only his passion for freedom can keep him alive.

This remake’s story stays fairly close to the original movie, which starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, but diverges in a couple important ways. First, it’s shorter. So, it ejects some of the gratuitous scenes that viewers complained about in the original 150-minute movie. Second, the new movie starts with the title character’s backstory, which makes the character more sympathetic because it shows why he was framed for murder unjustly. As a result, the character’s passionate desire for freedom throughout the story becomes more compelling. Thus, the final escape scene in the movie, where Papillon figures out how to escape Devil’s Island, is more moving than the hokey last scene in the original movie, which still has the better score and the better cinematography, however.

That said, the PAPILLON (2018) remake has a humanist worldview, even though its theme of freedom sometimes takes on a spiritual quality. Also, in one scene, Papillon and Dega escape to a native island, where they run into a nun, who suspects something is amiss about their story. The nun coldly urges them to repent and doesn’t express much Christian compassion toward them. Despite this, the movie promotes the value of freedom. In addition, the title character risks his neck several times to help his friend. PAPILLON also contains brief extreme violence, brief nudity, some “f” words, and some strong profanities. So, extreme caution is advised.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


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