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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.

[–] Frank_Z 17 years ago

I think this is one story that could stand to be made into a new film that would incorporate more of, or different aspects of Charriere's story. There is, of course, plenty of material to make this into two films, such as was done with Marcel Pagnol's "l'eau des collines" which was made into "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources."

I am really somewhat surprised that no French Producer/Director team has tackled this project.

[–] zazzy-zulu 16 years ago

I agree. I would like to see how a faithful recreation of the book would turn out (even if it's like 6 hours long).

[–] jk_zk 17 years ago

100% Agreed.

It would have been better as a 10 part mini-series.

[–] harryx3 16 years ago

Totally my idea (you thief, haha)
I'm only halfway through the movie, and already I'm pissed that they left so much great stories from the book out of it.

[–] freeagent2931 17 years ago

This kid just quoted IMDB trivia

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[–] Mrcozdude 16 years ago

yeah its a good idea.A mini series would be ideal especially with Banco.

It sucked to hear though that the books supposed to be fabricated. :(

"Like a midget on a urinal, I'll have to stand on my toes" - Frank Drebin

[–] erikriveros 16 years ago

the book was better than the movie huh? i've heard that that happens from time to time..out of curiosity, have you ever seen a movie outdo the book it is derived from?

also, while a mini series could capture more of the book, that means putting it on tv instead of the big screen and you would lose much of the story by having to shoot it for the small screen instead...

he'd roll over on his mommy, his daddy, his two panty granny and the *beep* king of siam

[–] Drooch (5333) 3 years ago

Misery, Jurassic Park and, apparently, Jaws.

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[–] polo_nordic 16 years ago

I read the book last week while on vacation, it was really good. So many different layers and beautiful chapters, very well written.

And then me and my girlfriend saw the movie yesterday. I would like ta add that we love movies, everything from comedy,drama, thriller and a good documentary. If it´s a good movie, then it´s a good movie.

This was A BAD MOVIE, so overrated. There are two ways you can judge it, either you compare it to the book or you don´t. Neither way it was bad. There was so many strange moments without any logic that weren´t even explained, and even if you have read the book you say to yourself "what the hell was that". And you know what!? The acting was pretty bad, Mcqueen could and should have done much better, Hoffman is always good but not more than OK in this one.

And why rewrite the script!??? Yes if it´s done in a good way but this made it worse.

One of the most overrated movies on IMDB, for sure.

[–] polo_nordic 16 years ago

And one more thing, in the book Papillon was 25 years old. McQueen was 43 years old and it´s not like he looks young, he really looks like 43.

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[–] NEPatsFan83 15 years ago

I've never read the book and have only seen the movie, which I thought was excellent, as well as the performances by McQueen & Hoffman. Obviously your review of the movie is somewhat biased, as you have read the book and went in with completely different expectations than someone who has not read the book. I second what another user previously said. Since when are movies better than books? Some can and have come close, but very few exceed the imagery that words can create and then the effect they will have on the minds of multiple readers with different imaginations. You have to pick one or the other; you can't read a book and then watch the movie about it and expect a director to portray the exact same things millions of readers envisioned in their heads. It’s common sense. I suggest you only watch movies based on books that you didn't love and no the other way around.

[–] snr_alejandro_sosa 15 years ago

I agree 100% with you.

The movie was a dissapointment after the book. I think to do it justice would require 2 x 3hr movies! So maybe a series as suggested would be great.

[–] LucretiaBorg 15 years ago

If he made the movie exactly as the novel, he'd still be shooting, lol. No,you have a point, but first of all, it's based on the novel, wich a scriptwriter used and adapted the story for the movie from and the director then shoots the picture.
I must still see óne movie that is exactly the same as the novel it's adapted from. Ofcause, some are better then others, but how better the novel, the more people you'll disappoint. You can never please everybody with that medium, 'cause you can't film it without atleast skipping some parts of the novel and readers have their own creation in their head, you can't please them all, as I said before but that's also why you should always watch the movie first, 'cause the novel is almost always better.

Dexter Morgan: I can't kill Dr. Meridien yet. I still need another therapy session