9999
Director Ellen Vermeulen
Countries Belgium
Duration 70 min
Synopsis
Wilfried refers to himself as ‘king one-eye in the land of the blind’. This land lays in Merksplas’ prison in Belgium and the blind are the internees pinned down in the prison without treatment and without a final date of release. Mentally ill criminals are as such not held responsible for their actions but are kept away from our society. Their committed crimes range from murder to stabbing fire to a bicycle. The only thing they have in common is their release date: 31/12/9999. The film intertwines five different stories of ‘the blind’. These men are waiting, for treatment, for comfort, for hope, for freedom. The time between the prison bars is altogether different from the time outside the prison walls. Time is annihilated. The only thing that remains is an eternal confrontation, a confrontation with their deeds and with their illness. There is nothing else. We disappear, together with the Wilfried, Salem, Ludo, Steven, Joris, behind the inexorable door. This is the story of men in need of treatment who are, instead, locked down in jail. 9999 raises questions of injustice through the devastating stories Merksplas’ internees. Ellen Vermeulen portrays the lives of five internees within their prison environment. They find themselves pinned down between prison bars while their lives are passing without any personal participation. This is the story of men in need of treatment who are, instead, locked down in jail.
Wilfried refers to himself as ‘king one-eye in the land of the blind’. This land lays in Merksplas’ prison in Belgium and the blind are the internees pinned down in the prison without treatment and without a final date of release. Mentally ill criminals are as such not held responsible for their actions but are kept away from our society. Their committed crimes range from murder to stabbing fire to a bicycle. The only thing they have in common is their release date: 31/12/9999. The film intertwines five different stories of ‘the blind’. These men are waiting, for treatment, for comfort, for hope, for freedom. The time between the prison bars is altogether different from the time outside the prison walls. Time is annihilated. The only thing that remains is an eternal confrontation, a confrontation with their deeds and with their illness. There is nothing else. We disappear, together with the Wilfried, Salem, Ludo, Steven, Joris, behind the inexorable door. This is the story of men in need of treatment who are, instead, locked down in jail. 9999 raises questions of injustice through the devastating stories Merksplas’ internees. Ellen Vermeulen portrays the lives of five internees within their prison environment. They find themselves pinned down between prison bars while their lives are passing without any personal participation. This is the story of men in need of treatment who are, instead, locked down in jail.