Source: 123RF
Two prisoners are relegated to a desert island. A paradise for those who visit it today, but a real hell for them. The film that tells the story, taken from a true story that happened in the 30s and told in Henri Charrière's autobiographical novel, has become a "cult".
“Papillon”, played by Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen, is the nickname of Henri (Steve McQueen, while Hoffman plays the role of the forger Louis Dega), due to a butterfly-shaped tattoo on his chest.
There's no point telling the plot, everyone has seen the film (and anyone who hasn't yet should go and watch it straight away). We are interested in knowing where that tropical and paradisiacal island is located on which “Papillon” was set in 1973.
Source: 123RF
It is about the'Devil's Island (Ile du Diable), an apt choice to represent a hellish place, located in French Guiana, one of the French overseas territories located in South America. It is the smallest and northernmost of the Isles du Salut archipelago, off the coast, together with Ile Royale and Ile Saint-Joseph.
There was once a notorious penitentiary on the island, which hosted, in addition to the two protagonists of "Papillon", also Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the French Jewish soldier unjustly accused of high treason. In short, for a small island of only 14 hectares in the middle of the sea, it has quite a few stories to tell.
Source: Wikimedia Commons - @Philipp Weigell
Apart from the old stone building where the prisoners were relegated and which can still be seen, there is nothing on the Ile du Diable except palm trees and rocks. It is usually circumnavigated during tours of the archipelago whose islands all had a function linked to the penitentiary: the administrative offices and normal prisoners were located on the Ile Royale while Saint-Joseph was dedicated to the imprisonment of the "hotheads" and those who they had tried to escape.
But Royale is the most touristy of the three Salut islands. Here there is a restaurant and some guest accommodation, from small hotels to guest rooms in private homes, including the former prison wardens' rooms.
Source: Wikimedia Commons - Wikimedia Commons
