Driving by his innocence from the false accusation of murder, an ordinary kind wacky man, Henry Charriere, who has been sentenced to a prison in an isolated French colony, does his best to escape and prove his innocence, but after the failure of his attempts, he has sent to an isolated jail.
Based on the memoirs of Henri Charriere, the only man to have successfully escaped from Devil's Island, this is a grim and brutal prison drama, made more likable due to the lead star performances.
With Schaffner unable to find the necessary perspective to prevent the film from becoming unevenly episodic, it ends up looking as if it were tacked together by at least three different directors.
Papillon was not a complicated man but his experiences changed him almost beyond recognition, and McQueen does a good job of portraying the survivor, broken in body, but not in spirit.
McQueen works hard and al most manages to triumph over his star presence, while Hoffman submerges himself eccentrically and amusingly in his coward's role.
