Within These Walls

I have not actually watch the movie yet, but was notified that the real Sister Pauline passed away March 13 2020 in a convent in Michigan. I have order this movie to see if it is true to the stories I have heard about her and representative of the lady I meet a few times. She had a love of dogs and I hope this movie shows that.

Within These Walls was a good way to spend 2 hours. It is one of the better made-for-TV movies I have seen in a long time. Although it may not be true to the facts, I did find it to be uplifting and encouraging. The idea of inmates training dogs was not new to me, but seeing it brought to life was cool. I am glad to know that some inmates out there are finding new purpose, dogs are being saved and handicapped people are getting helped (even if it is only a few).

Joan is a hardened, emotionless criminal. Most of the other prisoners seem to be afraid of her and just leave her alone. Sister Pauline is a nun with a complicated past who wants to get a program started at the womens' prison where the inmates will train dogs for the handicapped. She believes it is a win-win-win situation. It takes a little work to convince the warden, but eventually she, as well as the female guard responsible for supervising the project, are fully on board. A lot of human drama among Sister Pauline and the women training the dogs takes place, as well. We quickly see many little ways in which the activity is changing all their lives.

All that said, Ellen Burstyn is, as she always is, the glue that holds this piece together. The woman can act! She can play anything. This time, uncharacteristically, she is playing a rather unpleasant and unlikable (at least initially) character, Joan Thomas. Ms. Burstyn is aided nicely by Laura Dern (as Sister Pauline), never one of my particular favorites, but effective here. The actresses playing the guard, warden, and the other two dog-training prisoners are also quite capable.

I like the way that we get to find out bits and pieces at a time about Joan's and Pauline's pasts and why they are the way they are. We aren't just smacked over the head with it constantly. The filmmakers did a nice job of interspersing the dog training scenes with the scenes of interaction among the women. I felt like I was going through the emotional highs and lows with them. Ellen Burstyn has an uncanny ability to rip my heart out just by the look in her eyes, and she does it again in Within These Walls.

Overall, it gets a B+ from me.

While Hallmark Entertainment is one of the companies that produced this film, it does not suffer from the "Hallmark" stigma of being cloying and artificial. From what I can tell (not having had any experience with the situations depicted in the film except dog ownership), it seems very realistic (even if it's not 100% true to the real-life story it's based on, per another commenter). Conflicts that are introduced don't go away as if a magic wand were waved, and characters that struggle have to keep on struggling. Because of this depiction of grey areas rather than black & white contrasts, and the fact that things don't come for free, the movie is much more touching than its manipulative tear-jerker TV movie cousins.

Heh. It's funny, within a few days time I saw "Girls In Prison" (1994) (TV) and then this film. It'd be tough to make two more different "women behind bars" films than these two, in terms of realism, dramatic quality, acting, and meaningfulness.

Anyway, if you're a fan of Laura Dern, a dog lover, a person interested in an apparently realistic yet not gratuitously gritty look at life in women's prison, or are a person who's skeptical that criminal rehabilitation programs can work, I can definitely recommend checking out this film.

Could have been a better film if they had stayed with fact. The real story of these women is interesting, dramatic, and stories the disabled who received the dogs would make for a more human film. Professionals trained the inmates even though Sister Pauline's efforts made a difference.

The fact that a Lesbian was portrayed as the principal "bad-guy" is in poor taste and certainly inappropriate. It shows the continuance of mass-media homophobia. I am shocked that gifted actors such as Ellen Burstyn and Laura Dern would be willing to be in a film that portrayed their fellow females in such a degrading way. The fact that a prisoner is cruel to an animal is sufficient in itself to make her a bad person. Just adding the fact that this bad person is also a Lesbian bull duke on the make has nothing to do with the plot. This person could have been just a nasty Black if you want to take on another social inappropriate designation.