La dernière chance

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.

This was very good especially for a made for TV Hallmark movie. An interesting (inspired by) true story, helped along by fantastic turns from Ellen Burstyn -who is amazing as a hardened criminal serving time for possession and Laura Dern as the Dominican nun who reaches out to her through her service dog program. They definitely make this worth a watch.

I'd head of the success of this program before but it and it was nice to get a look at its inception here. The story follows Sister Pauline Quinn (Dern) who creates a special program in which inmates help train dogs who will be used to help the handicapped. They train and live 24-7 with the dogs and at first Joan (Burstyn) is resistant to getting involved. She is a hard woman, with a drug problem who has shut herself down emotionally. Sister Pauline for whatever reason refuses to give up on her sensing that her life can still be turned around. As it turns out she's hiding some secrets about her own past. As I said these two are fantastic. There's a couple of decent side stories running as well.

Honestly I was actually surprised to learn that this was a Hallmark production because it defiantly doesn't watch like one. The story felt realistic and is gritty at times.4/10/16

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.

there are many underrated movies out there, and 'Within These Walls' is one of them. despite a previous comment about 'homophobia' and giving this film one star, this is a rather good movie to watch. a dramatic portrayal of the inside of a women's prison and the character transformations that occur through an inmate rehab program, that trains dogs to assist the handicapped.truly an inspirational movie about the power of a bond between animal and human and how it can have an impact on the human soul and spirit. it's a strong movie, based on the life of Pauline Quinn, a nun who came from an abusive past, who found hope and purpose through the love of a dog. the strength and determination of Sister Pauline Quinn and the success of the dog training program, helped turn some inmates' lives around, a great achievement.

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.