Walls – Akinni Inuk
(Greenland/Denmark, 84 min.)
Dir. Sofie Rørdam and Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg
Programme: International Spectrum (International premiere)
How long does it take a person convicted of a violent crime to heal? That question fuels Sofie Rørdam and Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg’s thoughtful documentary Walls – Akinni Inuk. The film explores a unique case in a Greenland prison. It introduces audiences to Ruth, who endures what Greenland and Denmark’s penal system calls an “indeterminate sentence.” This fate means that her term has no end date. She resides within the walls of her isolated correctional facility until someone decides she’s fit to walk free. By the time she meets filmmaker Nina, Ruth’s sentence spans several years.
From the producers of Hot Docs 2023’s opening night film Twice Colonized comes this touching story of connection and empathy. It spawns from an unexpected if fortuitous development when the filmmakers consider the women of Nuuk correctional facility. They give them cameras and receive videos about life in the facility where inmates have a relative level of freedom. Inmates can roam the halls. Their cells resemble dorm rooms. But when the powers that be decide that cameras are a liability, the filmmakers hone in on Ruth, whose diaries offer the most candid window into the larger story.
Nina becomes a character alongside Ruth in a documentary two-hander. Day after day, Nina crosses the fence that divides them. Her conversations with Ruth offer the inmate a chance to share her story, an opportunity to unburden herself, and a place to heal. However, one sees few if any signs of treatment. Without Nina’s ear and camera, Ruth might be there forever.
Rørdam and Skydsbjerg offer an intimate cinéma vérité glimpse of two women as they forge a connection. Nina becomes a mother throughout the years-long project. Ruth, meanwhile, becomes a grandmother. Her grandchild becomes one of many reasons that motivates her to reopen her case. She feels it’s time to return to society. Who else may judge that, however, proves a tricky process.
The sparse view from inside the walls of the prison means that the production is inevitably bare bones, though. Much of the film simply observes the two women in conversation. It’s compelling material, but outside of the arresting bleakness of the landscape that surrounds the prison, Walls could just as easily be a podcast. The conversations drive the story with the roller coaster of emotions that both women experience. This sincerity ensures that the material proves immediately effective. This film invites us join the conversation as an active listener as both Ruth and Nina heal through conversation.
Walls observes the complexity of Denmark’s legal system and the cruelty of indeterminate sentences. As more details emerge about the circumstances of Ruth’s fate, the less logical the sentence appears. Nina learns that Ruth first went to prison for killing a man who was sexually assaulting her. She served a few years and walked free. Shortly thereafter, Nina learns, Ruth tried to kill the man she believed to be responsible for her mother’s death. The repeat violent offenses equal the indeterminate sentence, although Ruth spends over twice as much time in prison for battery as she does for manslaughter. She might have better chance if she transfers to Denmark, but then she’s even further from her family.
Rørdam and Skydsbjerg navigate the relationship between co-director and subject well. While docs in which filmmakers appear onscreen as a surrogate for the audience can easily go sideways, Walls finds a steady hand to balance this personal tale. Nina’s freedom, her joy in being a mother, and her ability to share intimate moments with Ruth offer an accessible window into the broken nature of the carceral system. Walls puts a human face on the devastating toll that arises when a system fails to rehabilitate people for society, or proactively treat the factors that precipitate crime. Hitting on levels both emotional and intellectual, Walls marks a damning, if ultimately rewarding, story of finding empathy from the other side.
Walls – Akinni Inuk screens at Hot Docs 2025.
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