Movie review
September 7, 2017 · 134 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Papillon.
Woke representation / casting
Casting uses two male leads in period-appropriate historical roles with no visible diversity signaling, quotas, or identity emphasis in marketing or execution.
Woke political dialogue
No modern activist language, identity-based arguments, or social-justice messaging; dialogue stays within 1930s prison survival and friendship.
Identity-driven story themes
Core themes are personal resilience, loyalty, and escape from unjust imprisonment; no race, gender, sexuality, or group-identity focus.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Shows historical brutality of the real French Guiana penal colony system (forced labor, isolation) with minor ironic nods to colonial “expansion,” presented as period fact rather than modern activist framing of Western institutions, patriarchy, or systemic issues.
Review
The 2017 film Papillon follows Henri Charrière, a Parisian safecracker wrongly convicted of murder in the 1930s and sent to the brutal French Guiana penal colony for life. He forms a deep friendship with fellow prisoner Louis Dega while making repeated escape attempts amid harsh conditions and solitary confinement. The story centers on resilience, loyalty, and survival in a historical prison setting with no audience-visible modern social, identity, or activist themes.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Adaptation follows source memoir with standard dramatic adjustments; no identity-driven swaps or reinterpretations of established figures.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No documented right-leaning or anti-woke criticism accusing the film of pushing DEI, identity politics, or left-wing messaging.
Creator track record context
Dalton Trumbo’s historical Communist Party ties and mid-20th-century left causes provide mild classical signal only; all other key creatives (director, main writer, producers, casting team) show no patterns of activist, identity-driven, or modern social-justice work.
Production
