Behind the Walls on AllMovie

The shocking story of a young man sentenced to a brutal juvenile home comes to the screen in this drama based on an autobiographical novel by Auguste Le Breton set in the early 1930s. Yves Treguier (Emile Berling) is a 14-year-old who has run away from home and is picked up by police for vagrancy. Yves is sent to an "educational home" for orphans and juvenile felons; the home is more like a prison than anything else, and adults who oversee the youngsters in their care are more interested in discipline and hard labor than in attempting to teach their charges. Many of the boys at the home have become hardened prisoners who greet new inmates with violence or sexual abuse, but Yves is fortunate enough to share his cell with Blondeau (Guillaume Gouix), an older boy with a gentle spirit. Blondeau was simply abandoned by his wealthy mother, and has bittersweet memories of music lessons and reading poetry. While Blondeau has become resigned to his fate, Yves's spirit has not been broken, and he isn't in stir long before making plans to escape. After two attempts to run away fail, Yves is warned that a third offense will result in him being transferred to a prison for adults, but despite the long odds against him, Yves believes that he has a slim chance of escape but no chance at all if he stays on the inside. Les Hauts Murs (aka Behind The Walls) was the first theatrical feature from director Christian Faure, who previously distinguished himself working in television.