THE WALL (THE MOVIE)

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An essential movie (almost a rockumentary in some ways), one that came to shape a bit the proghead that I am today. I must've seen this a dozen times on the local second-run movie screens. Actually all Torontonians will remember fondly the Roxy theatre on Bloor St East that had a strictly rock films programation where Zep's Song Remains The Same, Spinal Tap and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were on every week until the end of the 80's but this movie was also a mainstay as well as the PF at Pompeii.

Well, now I have just acquired the DVD as I always preferred seeing this than listening to the original album since the story makes more sense with the pictures. My main two criticisms are that Bob Geldoff sings (good but not as well as Waters) the Pink vocal parts and that the best track on the album, Hey You, was absent from the film. Well this last point is now corrected as the film crew had done this track but apparently for fluidity reasons (and unavowed time restrictions maybe) they had taken it out. So Hey You is present in this DVD but as a bonus (along with the MTV video of Another Brick In The wall pt2) but still not in the movie. How unfortunate and undaring!!!

I will go back in my reverie and sulk for a while and avenge myself by not awarding this the fifth star it could've gotten if there was not this last glitch!

To celebrate my 100th review at Prog Archives I am going to review this film that was one of my first ventures into progressive rock and definetly made me love Pink Floyd.

My friend Pete had played me "Wish You Were Here" and i was really impressed. The only band I listened to that I consider to be a more interlectual rock band to what I normally listened to at the time (bands like Marilyn Manson and Slipknot) was Tool. I saw that this film was going to be on sky movies and my mum said it was brilliant so I decided to watch it and was completely blown away, not just by what I saw but also the music I was hearing. This film made me want to buy Pink Floyd albums and now I have about 21 of their albums and 3 DVD's (including this one).

This film is superbly directed by Alan Parker and the picture quality is quite good for its time (1982). Alan Parker superbly blends trippy acting with Gerald Scarfes amazing animated sequeneces that looks like Disney on some Bad LSD trip! This film really brings out the story of the 1979 double album successfully. This is a truely brilliant piece of work.

One thing that makes this film extra special is that is doesn't have one line of script. The whole story is told by Roger Waters lyrics and Pink Floyds music! It works superbly well. Bob Geldoff plays the character, Pink Floyd, who is a bummed out rock star who's own personal experiences alienate him from the rest of reality. Some memorable scenes include the birth of the wall with lots of symbolism of war and commercialism with bleeding crosses. Another memorable scene is during "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)" where the children are fed into a mincing machine by the evil schoolmaster. My final favourite parts of this film are "Empty Spaces" and "The Trial".

Unfortunately the footage for "Hey You" was lost and never made it into the film, but it has been recovered for the special features along with some impressive documentaries, including a talk with Roger about the whole spitting incident during the Animals tour that sparked off his ideas for The Wall. The film also includes "When the Tigers Broke Free" and "What Shall We Do Now?" which did not appear on the studio album.

This is a classic film, if you loved The album you will find this extra special. Those confused about the concept of The Wall will hopefully have their questions answered by this amazing trippy journey. A brilliant film and soundtrack that is definetly worth tracking down. A special edition DVD of this film was released recently that includes new artwork and a free giant movie poster... so buy it! This film is also a landmark in progressive rock by being the only blockbuster movie to my knowledge.

What an utterly miserable movie to watch! I consider myself a PINK FLOYD fan, but this project was only barely under the control of the band. I have no idea what possessed ALAN PARKER and GERALD SCARFE to do some of the things they did with this, but overall, the movie comes off as a very pretentious and very graphic attempt to pretend to be an "art film" pushing the boundaries of cinema. They pushed boundaries all right...the boundary of what I can watch without going completely out of my mind. The movie is simply too abstract for what is in the album a much more straightforward story, and as for certain scenes...that simply doesn't float my boat. I guess others might do all right watching that sort of graphic thing, but it's not my style.

The only thing that is keeping me from dragging it all the way down to one star is the fact that PINK FLOYD's music really isn't that bad, including the tracks missing from the album like the wonderful "What Shall We Do Now". Also, I do have to admit some of the animation is excellent--but some sections are utterly needless. The movie vacillates between completely shocking and completely boring me...I'm sorry to say I only got halfway through it before I had to turn it off, and I can only report honestly about that. This isn't like when I say I can't sit through DREAM THEATER's Scenes from a Memory, where I like the individual components on their own...I simply could not tolerate this experience at all because it's an absolute overload.

And based on what I did see, though, I have absolutely no need to try again. Don't buy this DVD until you've rented it once and are sure that this is really your thing.

I have to ask whether some people were too young when this film came out and missed the very real message of the time/s or are simply anti-Waters! This film is all about anti-establishment, ego, peer pressure, self loathing, self inflicted isolation,suicidal tendancies, social restrictions...need I go on? In those days back in 1979 it took nearly two years for Floyd to release the album ( in the 70's two years lapse without an album is like a decade now!!!), and then the movie subsequently followed in 1982. It is by majority a Roger Water/Alan Parker film and at this stage in the PF catalogue the nastiest, angriest streak of Floyd had come to the surface and The Wall album/movie was the best vehicle to address their feelings on humanity in general. The movie itself is an equisitly balanced potrayal of post warfare Britain and the story of Pink and his road to rockstar fame, madness and ruin. Externally and internally destructive walls. Gerald Scarfe and Roger Waters combine beautifully to bring art into visual sound. Alan Parker equally demonstrating his filming prowess with really hard hitting war scenes. Bob Geldof plays Pink and does IMHO a fine job at acting. In the late seventies there was a strong consciousness of anti establishment, hey even punk was here and even some punk followers enjoyed relating to the ' we don't need no education' themes. It is a sad message, but equallya hard hitting affair interlaced with Scarfe's incredible animation scenes. There is a scene where a soldier just crumples up and dies in a foetal position on the ground with ' Goodbye Blue Sky' nursing the scene through, flowers making love, the repugnant judge and jury and all the time a human being trying to reach a sense of sanity on the other side, trying to make sense of all the madness engulfing him. If you like ' Broken China' from Rick Wright and have little space for The Wall revist the album and this excellent film to see the similarities that Pink was going through.

First, I have to say that I don`t have the DVD version of this movie. But I have seen this movie 3-4 times. The first time I saw it was in a cinema in my city, during a "Movies Festival" which every year is organized in the months of November and December. In this festival, the organizers present movies which are not for the "consumers of commercial movies". The movies presented in this Festival (which is mainly organized by the Goverment`s cultural institutions) are "art movies", or "intelectual movies". So, I went to see this movie for the first time in late 1982 in a now defunct cinema which was the only one (I think so) at that time here which had stereo sound. You could hear one channel at the front and the other at the back of the cinema, giving great stereo sound. At that time I was 17 years old, I didn`t like (and I still don`t like) "The Wall" album, but after seeing this movie I was very impressed, and at last, I understood Pink Floyd`s and Roger Waters`messages, which are very good illustrated by the movie. This movie moved me in several ways, with the criticisms of several political and social problems in life, and also the criticisms to the Music Industry. I saw this movie other 2 or 3 times in a cultural TV channel of my city. It is a very good movie, a very intelligent movie. I read in a book ("Pink Floyd" , written by Miles) that Roger Waters said that the making of this movie was "the most stressful moment of my life, apart from my divorce". In fact, he had to go to holidays for a time, leaving Alan Parker alone to direct the film. Parker and Waters had some conflicts during the making of this movie, due to some different views. But I remember that in 1982 the public who went to the same cinema like me, at the end of the movie, gave to the movie a long applause. My views about the concept of "The Wall" changed, but I still prefer the movie more than the album.

From its inception, ROGER WATERS, the architect of the 'The Wall' intended for his little creation to be presented in three forms: A Double Album, A Stage Tour, and a Film. Whereas the album was mightily successful, and the stage tour was not (lost huge sums of money), the film has become a kind of a cult-classic over the years, after its initial short but successful debut in 1982.

The film contains a few musical abnormalities and rarities not found on the studio album. Some of which include: re-recorded versions of 'Mother', and 'Outside The Wall' as well as unreleased songs like 'The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot', and 'When The Tigers Broke Free' (a song subsequently released on the 2002 'Echoes Greatest Hits' Compilation)

I rewatched the film recently after getting the good news that the band was reforming for the Live 8 concert in London. I listened to ROGER WATERS' humourous and inciteful commentary throughtout the movie (an added feature included with the original film that you can select). On this commentary Roger drops a few anecdotes, makes fun of Bob Geldof's Gaelic accent and philosophizes about the meaning of his magnum opus.

The movie is autobiographical in nature, incorporating much from Roger's own life, as well as that of fellow bandmember SYD BARRETT. But some of the movie has little to do with PINK FLOYD, for instance naked groupies and smashing hotel rooms. As WATERS states in his commentary, these things were better performed by the likes of the 'other' legendary British bands like LED ZEP, the STONES and a certain drummer from THE WHO.

The movie itself is an intriguing watch, especially as it is narrated through the use of the movie's soundtrack and has very little (if none at all) actual dialogue by the various actors.

Added features include deleted parts of the movie (the 'Hey You' song and film clips) as well as a very informative behind-the-scenes documentary entitled "Other Side of the Wall" where director Alan Parker, animator Gerald Scarfe and of course, Mr. WATERS tell you all that you could ever want to know about this unique film.

Something every prog fan should see at least once, if only to see how such a compelling narrative can be expressed solely through the use of music (on film!). And something that every FLOYD fan should own. 4/5 stars

Time to add yet another 4-star rating to the mix here. I picked up the movie on DVD not too long ago (it's also some limited special edition type thing) after wondering for a long time what it must be like. One of my friends had been preaching this movie to me for long time, seeing as he is a huge Floyd fan and basically considers this movie the greatest movie ever. So, seeing it in the store, I figure "Hey, might as well, it's about time." Put it on the next day.

First off, it's a different movie. Good movie. Different movie. Weird movie. But still a good movie. It's difficult to describe, because you give a band like Pink Floyd a chance to make a movie, and... well, here's the result. Some adults I know who are aware of this movie believe that you have to be high to understand this movie. As for me, I have never been high and I strongly plan on never becoming high, and this movie made sense to me. I guess the parts that lose them are the extended animation sections that have seemingly no point whatsoever.

I am a firm believer that the whole concept of The Wall album is one of the best in music history. Seeing it put to film is fascinating, especially if you truly know the storyline before watching the movie, as I did. It is also interesting to see different things not apparent in the music brought into the story. This movie is easily understood if you can think differently when needed.

If you know and love Floyd, as I do, get it. This is my opinion, at least. Yes, it may make you cringe at points (I did), but it's what Floyd is all about on The Wall. Easy rating for me. 4/5 stars.

What an irony: the story about "The wall" started when a spectator spit at an annoyed Roger Waters, this inspired him to make an album about the problems people have with communication. This turned out to be perfect example (Dr Freud would have been excited about the highly neurotic person Roger Waters!) of projection because Roger Waters couldn't communicate no longer with his band members (mind the story about the vans during the tour) and he couldn't communicate with Alan Parker and Gerald Scarfe during the making of this movie! Nonetheless, despite these facts and despite the lack of live images, to me this movie is very emotional and very captivating. The main charactre is very well performed by Bob Geldorf, the cartoons from Gerald Scarfe are mindblowing and the very theatrical and often dramatic scenes during this movie are great. Of course this is almost an autobiography (the lost of his father in the war, his reluctance about the school system and the traumatic events with Syd Barrett) but the message about mis- communication and about the abuse of power are very clear pointed although it may called a bit hypocritical if you look at the person Roger Waters in those days.

VERY ENTERTAINING AND VERY INTERESTING!

Far superior to the album, this is the real The Wall if you ask me, this and the live conceptual presentations, no the album itself. This used to be one of my favorite movies ever, but now after having it sees a few times, and having seen more and more "good" movies I think it lost a bit of that shock I had the first times I saw it, never the less, I can still watch it and think it´s a very inspired work of art.

Although main credits as director are given to Alan Parker, the man behind it all really was Waters. Parker even said once that he was not sure what he was filming, he just did what Waters told him to. Ok, not sure I would do the same in his position, after all he is the director, but at least he is wise enough to know that it's Waters baby and don't let his ego get in the way. Fans of Floyd will love this and if you are not really into them, but like good cinema you'll find something to enjoy here as well.

In 1982 Pink Floyd had disintegrated into a three piece with Rick Wright taking a leave of absence. Roger's last major contribution with the Floyd was the Wall, and he did as much with the album as he could. This film is one of those experiments. For the premier of the movie, you could also see the band's consideration and involvement with the movie in the clothes that they wore (Roger wore a full suit and tie, Gilmour wore a sports jacket with a plain shirt underneath, Mason wore a shirt and some jeans, and Wright chose not to appear at all). Directed by Alan Parker and animated by Gerald Scarfe, this film will take you through the mind of a tormented man (played by the one and only Bob Geldof [who looks frightenly like Jerry Seinfeld]) and his struggles with his own mind and the world outside of him.

Now, the Wall as an album was good, but I didn't see what the big deal was. I believe it was always meant to be seen visually, as there are many pieces that would have been better off in the visual department. Fortunately, all those ideas are fully realized with this film. From the opening of When the Tigers Broke Free to the closing drones of Outside the Wall, this film is a 90 minute roller coaster of emotions and psychedelic surprises. It must be noted that the soundtrack was given a bit of a face lift for this film, with Waters going back in the studio with the late Michael Kamen to punch up some of the (most noteworthy Mother). Now you won't actually find any spoken dialogue in this film, most of it is acting whilst the album is played over it, although you'll find Bob Geldof himself singing both incantations of In the Flesh.

Musically, I love the soundtrack, it's more lush and there's a lot more dynamics involved. The audio is superbly mixed and there's a nice balance of all instruments and augmentations necessary to make this film what it is. There are also some nice additions to the film in songs that never made the final cut (no pun intended) of the album. There's When The Tigers Broke Free, which found itself on the Echoes compilation and ultimately on the reissue of The Final Cut. It's classic Waters with sneering vocals and lyrics as well as some impressive instrumentation underneath. Also here is What Shall We Do Now?, which was originally placed between Empty Spaces and Young Lust, but was cut at the last moment for continuity reasons. It's another sneering rocker with some great multi-layered vocals from Waters.

Visually, the film is gorgeous, with lush animation sequences provided by Gerald Scarfe (lush and horrifying) that really show the more frightening side of cartoon animation. The overall feel and look of the film is also very dirty, very cold, and very forboding, but it suits the atmosphere very well and it only seems to add to the depressing theme. But that's not all, there's more! Included with the dvd is footage from Hey You, the only song from the original album cut from the film (along with The Show Must Go On, more or less). Hey You being one of the better songs on the album, it would have been nice to see it in the film. Also included is a nice documentary about the making of the film and the meticulous and backbreaking efforts Waters, Scarfe, Parker, and Kamen did to make the film possible.

Overall, Floyd's only venture into motion pictures is a bit of an unsettling, unappreciative film. It's a bit out there, and you'll have to watch it a few times before you actually understand what is going on. But on the whole, this is an enjoyable, trippy, and ultimately rewarding experience that no fan of Floyd or Avant-Garde film making will be disappointed with. Still, though, if you're not too fond of the Wall or grandiose concept albums, you may want to steer clear of. It's a good film, and maybe everyone should watch it at least once, but it's not going to be a film for everyone. 3.5/5.

"Absolute rubbish laddie"

This 1982 film is of course based on the album of the same name. It tells the tale of a rock star "Pink" who finds himself becoming increasingly isolated not only from his audience, but from humanity as a whole. He therefore builds a wall around himself.

The story sounds OK, but this film turns out to be little more than an elaborate pop video, with little coherence and virtually no appeal as an attention grabbing tale. The focus here is very much on the art side of the cinema, with moody atmospheres, cartoon sequences and graphic images. Depressing as the film is, some sections were actually omitted on the grounds that they were too disturbing.

In terms of the music, most of the content is lifted directly from the 1979 studio album by Pink Floyd. That said, some tracks have been remixed or re-recorded, while others such as "Empty Spaces" (replaced by "What shall we do now" a longer version of essentially the same song) and "Hey you" are omitted altogether, although the latter did reappear on the DVD version. "When the tigers broke free" is a previously unheard song which remained unavailable on album for many years. "Money" from "Dark side of the moon" also makes a cameo appearance as the poetry Pink has written which the schoolteacher proceeds to ridicule as "absolute rubbish".

Interestingly, Roger Waters was originally pencilled in to play Pink, but his screen test did not go well, and the part went to Bob Geldof (in his debut acting role). Waters did eventually get a walk on part. In a sequence of pure irony, many of the extras in the fascist scenes were real fascists. The scenes were intended to convey the futility of such beliefs, but a real organisation (the Hammerskin Nation) was subsequently formed, and adopted the hammer logo as their own (much to Waters dismay).

The film won a couple of BAFTA awards, significantly for Best song ("Another brick in the wall" - Part 2?) and Best sound, but was not nominated in any cinematic categories. For me, that sums up the film nicely in that it is good to listen to, but watching is optional and far from essential.

"We don't need no education"? Hmm, I do think grammar lessons are in order.

The Wall was very popular with my non-progfan peers when it came out. Consequently, I basically ignored it at the time, even though I liked Pink Floyd. My first encounter with the movie was in college at the student center where they had a VCR and a TV set up that was running the thing. This is actually a film better appreciated on a larger screen, but I understood then why the movie had been so popular, getting local weekend midnight movie plays along with Rocky Horror, etc. It good music mixed with fascinating images. OK, it does have some moments that are a bit cheesy. Still a very interesting concept piece. But, the sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, whoohoo! The insanity, shaving of body hair, trashing a hotel room, the fascism, the violence. The film is certainly weird, which has a lot of appeal for me. The music isn't consistently progressive, but there's plenty there to please the prog nut.

Never managed to see it in a theater, but picked up the VHS version (long time ago) and later the DVD version (also long time ago but not so long). I'd go for the DVD (released 1999) over the album or VHS versions (no difference in the movie content, but most likely out of print anyway). You get bonus materials of a documentary about the making of the movie and a retrospective from some of the creative talents responsible for the movie, Roger Waters (of course), Gerald Scarfe (the animator director), Alan Parker (the film director).

The insanity? You're soaking in it.

One of the best movies of the genre I had ever seen. Even one of my teachers at college recommended us to watch The Wall. Yes, even for psychologists it was an interesting study of the human behavior (not surprisinly, it has a lot to do with Roger Waters own past and traumas). But besides that, I do think it worked very well with the music (at least the storyline makes more sense to me on the screen than on the original The Wall album). The cartoon parts were great to watch at the time. They look too dated and even simplistic nowadays, but they were fantastic in 1983.

I have little else to say. I know all the problems this movie went throuth and the fact that Waters does not like it, but I really love it. I was also enthralled by Bob Geldof's performance: absolutely amazing as the main character. Not an easy flick to watch, it was nevertheless one of the rare cases when I saw it more than five times and I still have the same feelings everytime I put it on. A classic. Essential, if you want to know about prog music.

The wall that seperated me from the mainstream...

This was the ''album'' that introduced me to Pink Floyd, and obviously this lead me to Prog. My brother had bought this for me and himself, as a Christmas present from 2005. I was already listening to some Pink Floyd, and knew about them, but still I was just listening to it because of catchy melodies, not really because of the compositions, nor solos, no, nothing of that really attracted me until I watched this movie. Well, that same 25th of December from 2005, we watched it together. I really can't think of any other movie that had opened my mind so much, I was 11 back then, and really was shocked, yet amazed, by the *few* sexual scenes, though mainly the violent ones, and the daring lyrics which really turned me into a believer and somewhat of a rebel for some couple of months in school, performing a good bunch of the songs there, though obviously had to change some of the lyrics content to satisfie my english head-master.

The music alone, having heard the studio album before having watched the movie, was really missing half of it's real content, which is what the movie had and what really grabbed me. Besides the music and imagery, the story, or better known as 'Rock Opera', was what really took my attention the first time I saw it, it was pretty crazy for me back-then, and still is. The fascinating mixture of real-life people and terrifying cartoons, which simply made the concept even better in the visual perception, was something I had never experienced. Also the strong similaritie to nazi imagery, and somewhat ideology through the movie had also caught my attention for a long while.

Watching the movie again, brings me strong and vivid memories of back-then, while the music in the studio-version, has worn-out unfortunately, and doesn't make such effect, since musically alone, albums such as Animals, Dark Side of the Moon, Meddle and Wish You Were Here, blow the album away.

To conclude, this movie was my turning point into my deep and, hopefully, eternal love for music, so I really can't rate this less than 5 bright stars. Maybe not a masterpiece of Prog, because the music itself, barely is, though it's definitely essential for any Artsy Movie collection, as well as for any Music Video collection, also worthy for introducing someone to Prog, well at least it worked for me.