These Walls (2012) User Reviews (3)

Needs to be a full movie

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 12 October 2020]

Doreen Manuel is the sixth child of Grand Chief Dr. George Manuel and Marceline Manuel. From perusing her official site, I've learned that she's a graduate of the Aboriginal Film and Television Diploma Program (AFTP) at Capilano University and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Film Production from UBC.

This film is informed by her extensive background working in First Nations education and community development in both rural and urban centers. And beyond that, she comes from a long line of oral historians and factual storytellers.

This is a short film with a big story behind it. The heroine, Mary (Grace Dove, an indigenous actress based in Vancouver, BC and Los Angeles, CA who appeared in The Revenant) and her mother Claire (Andrea Menard) discover the skeletons of children and babies at what is claimed to be a Catholic reservation school but what may as well be a concentration camp.

Despite her mother's warnings, now Mary must confont the past that Claire has worked so hard to escape. Can the bones being taken away from the school destroy so much pain?

I was shocked just how much story fit into only nine minutes of running time. This deserves to be a much longer - and much more widely seen - story.

A thriller of a short film.

[dashton35 · 8/10 · 18 November 2012]

Pleasantly surprised at this writer/director Doreen Manuel's approach to an atrocity on the Native people's of the Americas. Admittedly when I initially read about the subject matter, "Indian residential school" I was expecting a painful walk into the past. But in this refreshing approach Manuel took a horrendous subject matter (murdered babies) and took the audience on a thrill ride, albeit a quick one. The actor's in particular the main character "Gracey Dove" as Mary, gave an outstanding performance. She gives her character so much depth. She disappears into her role with her subtle mixture of strength and vulnerability. The chilling performance of Peter Hall as Father Kelly made me feel equally angry and horrified at to what it must have been like for Native people to have endured living in these prison camps passed off as religious schools for children. I also enjoyed the music choices and felt they all added to the experience. Fara Palmer is definitely on my list of CD's to buy. I was curious about the Claire character's background and what her experiences were and would have liked to have seen more about who she was, which brings me to my problems with this film. The only thing that bothered me about this film is that it at times felt choppy in the editing. It felt as though I needed some time to breathe in order to absorb what was happening. I realize that it was written as a short film but I'd much rather see this as a feature or perhaps a mini-series. This would enable the subject matter and the characters to be fully fleshed out. That said, overall I did enjoy this short film and look forward to seeing more from this filmmaker.

I want to see more!

[chums878 · 10/10 · 21 October 2012]

I saw this film at the Crazy 8's screening in Vancouver in the Spring. I thought it was going to be a scary film but it made me feel more angry than scared. It made me think about all the stories left untold. My gran and mom and aunties had talked about babies being buried around the Indian residential schools. I hear some bits and pieces on the news about this stuff but then the stories disappear. I want my family to see this film. We know what the truth is and know that the stories will come out and won't just disappear. I wish it was on TV so that more people could see it. I would also like to see a longer version of this film. I want to know what happened to the priests and what happened to Mary and her mother. I hope you keep making films, someone needs to tell our stories. Thanks.