THE WALL (THE MOVIE)

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