If These Walls Could Talk

Opening with a quotation from Sebastian Barry's novel "The Secret Scripture", in which the main character is a resident in a Roscommon mental institution, the film takes us on a haunting tour of a vast and desolate building, once an Irish asylum. The voices of former residents describe their experience recounting their loneliness and suffering, and harsh practice of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Their recollections reveal how people were committed and shed light on the social, economic and political factors that lead to their admission. The decision to feature voices and not faces allows the residents to maintain their anonymity. (from IFI Archive)

• Anna RodgersDirector
• Siobhán WardProducer

Release date

September 24, 2010

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

13m

Genres

Documentary