Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Senior]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillon_(film)

I was randomly channel surfing on Sunday and this movie came on. It has Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen as prisoners in the French penal colonies in French Guyana. It was really good and I was surprised I had never heard of it. I asked my Dad, who knows quite a lot about movies from that era, and he knew of it but had never seen it.

So, yesterday I met my (Korean) GF for lunch and told her about how I had seen this really obscure movie on Korean TV and how surprising it was that they would play something like that here. She was like "Oh yea, Papillon, that is really famous! Don't you know it?" Apparently it is quite well known here. Koreans even have a saying that if you are wearing vertical stripes they will call you Papillon (Because it is a prison movie).

It's interesting how a piece of western art can have almost no impact in its homeland yet be a part of the cultural landscape in a foreign country. Another example of this is the artist Milet. "The Gleaners" is as famous as the Mona Lisa here, though it is hardly known back home (at least in NZ).

[mulligc3]

I've heard of it but just because my sister read the book recently and raved about it. She sent it to me. Good read. Maybe I'll check out the film.

[Senior]

[itaewonguy]

emm I guess you guys are in your 20's then..

I'm in my 30's and remember watching it with my dad when I like 10!

CLASSIC movie... one of the best ever made..

hows that for a review!?
Ive watched it like 10 times since then.. never get bored of it.. ITS EPIC!

[Senior]

[madoka]

[Hightop]

I really love this movie. I must have seen it at least 10 times. Steve McQueen got a golden globe nomination from it. MacGyver and SeJong The Great are also well known in Korea.

[Senior]

[The Gipkik]

I also saw Papillon as a kid. A couple of years ago, I saw the DVD and picked it up. Soon after I read the book. The book is better than the movie, but the movie was and still is excellent. The jungle scene when Papillon is running along with another Spanish convict who gets it through the chest gave me nightmares as a kid. Strong flick.

[Bloopity Bloop]

[conrad2]

Sophie Marceau is another one famous in Korea but not so much elsewhere.

[SHANE02]

If you get the chance, read "Scars Are My Passport" by George Seaton. It's the author's account of his experiences in the penal colony of French Guiana. Horrible.

[eamo]

[Forward Observer]

That stuff the OP wrote about Papillion "having almost no impact in its homeland" is wrong. Papillion was a big hit and like others have already said, Mcqueen was up for best actor, along with best motion picture.

In 1973, I was a kid. Went to see it with my dad in the theater. Back then, when Mcqueen did a movie, you didn't want to miss it.

Never left food on my plate after that movie. Same goes for Soylent Greent ...want your kids to savor every last bite and not complain? Rent/download that movie.

[Senior]