Although billed as a true story, the French in French Guiana claim that much of the story of
Henri Charrière (Papillon) is fabricated. Papillon was documented to have been incarcerated in Saint Laurent and may have escaped from there, but he never served any time on the Devil's Islands (now known as Iles du Salut or Salvation Islands). The book and movie both present Devil's Island as having rocky cliffs, when in fact, though the entire island is rocky, it gently slopes into the surrounding sea.
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