Pink Floyd The WallThe mind does strange things when it's given to loneliness, and when one feels a sense of alienation from the "outside" world. What do you do to protect yourself from the pain? You build a wall. But a wall can be not only fortification, but a prison of your own design as well. Rock star Pink (Bob Geldof) sits alone in a hotel room watching an old war movie, and he imagines his father's death at Anzio in World War II, his oppressively loving mother, joyless school days, and loveless marriage, and suffers a mental breakdown. But it's the presentation of Pink Floyd The Wall which really hammers home the intensity of his madness.
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As a "rock opera", Pink Floyd The Wall is straightforward enough: set images to the prog rock band Pink Floyd's The Wall, featuring accompanying imagery and characters to reinforce the narrative. The Wall (the album), like other concept albums before it, already contains a metaphorical story told through the recurring themes and subject matter of each piece of music. For The Wall, these themes include alienation through fame, sexual anxiety and feelings of inadequacy, overprotective mothering in the absence of a father figure, the persistent threat of war, and the grande metaphor of "the wall", a paralyzing terror of being hurt, being vulnerable, manifesting as a xenophobic disguise of imperviousness and intolerance. With few exceptions, Pink Floyd The Wall plays out as the double album by the band does--although a couple of additional Pink Floyd tracks give greater context to the album proper, and the arrangement is slightly different. Pink's deepest fears are made manifest in animated montages. Sequences depict with sardonic cynicism the futility of war, and the cost far outweighing the sacrifice, where the hawks rip open the doves, and the dead rise only to be monuments to their uncaring homeland, one which is happier indulging in consumerism and hatred than embracing their own humanity. These scenes are like cinematic jolts of adrenaline, with images of flowers in an act of procreation which turns into mutilation, reflecting Pink's anxiety toward women, an accent to tracks like "Mother". And the imposing, marching hammers follow Pink's own fascistic crusade, set to "Waiting for the Worms", building to such a crescendo that Pink must scream to break out of its undertow, pulling him down into become the monster he fears. Pink Floyd The Wall feels like one of the best representations of the kind of mental turmoil that accompanies bipolar disorder. When you feel isolated, alienated, alone, you lash out at the world that doesn't understand you in fits of rage and destruction; guilt follows. What's interesting is how Pink's eventual xenophobia is treated. He isn't so much an evil man because of his hatred, as he is hurt, confused, and scared. He has built up this barrier to insulate himself from the scary world, and it has only served to cause his fears to fester, emerging in violence. Regrettably for Pink (and his fans), he is unable to restrain his cult of personality and his followers adopt his ideology as a justification for inflicting terror upon the world like the Nazis his father fought in the war.
It had been many years before I had watched this film, but I was already very familiar with the music--The Wall is my favorite album, so my experience watching the film was influenced by my expectations of the songs. But even if you are not familiar with Pink Floyd, I urge you to enjoy both incarnations of the story of Pink, a rock star crippled by a pervading sense of fear, isolated in his hotel room, retreating into the fantasy world of TV and his own darkness while reflecting on his past, contemplating his future. Pink's thoughts take him back to World War II, as he envisions men like his father falling in the service of their country, their sacrifices hard to justify in the wake of Pink's antipathy. He recalls his days as a schoolboy, enduring abusive schoolmasters, his sense of self being ground down by the system, and the constant void in his life where his father should be. Even Pink's most feeble attempts at humanity--trying to save a sick rat--are quashed, and these events burn a brand in his mind, one that fosters the need to build a wall to protect himself from feeling hurt anymore. It is a simple, tragic premise: to keep everyone out, let no one in. Pink continues to torture himself by withdrawing further inward, to the point where he can no longer identify with others--seeing threats in anything that is different than him and his warped sense of purity, of discipline. For Pink, it is a cycle of self-destruction, one that he does not feel compelled to stop or even slow. The wall has been raised so high that he can't see beyond the prison he has constructed for himself, and his metamorphosis from a "Howard Hughes" into an "Adolf Hitler" becomes the ne plus ultra of that "perfect isolation", his riot shield raised, and jackboots poised to stomp via another simple (if cruel) premise: hurt them before they hurt you. Just like the album, Pink Floyd The Wall is a deeply psychological tale, warning others to avoid Pink's unfortunate slip into paranoia and madness. The film is punctuated by gorgeous animated sequences that are loaded with bold imagery, and deliver a grotesque beauty alongside the potent score. And while Pink Floyd The Wall emerged a short time after the advent of MTV and proliferation of music videos, this film stands as so much more, and is one of the most recognizable and celebrated rock operas, as well as a nihilistic and introspective examination of the self.
Recommended for: Fans of progressive rock and a story driven by the musical score. The music and accompanying images create a compelling story that haunts and tackles mental health in an artful way.
It had been many years before I had watched this film, but I was already very familiar with the music--The Wall is my favorite album, so my experience watching the film was influenced by my expectations of the songs. But even if you are not familiar with Pink Floyd, I urge you to enjoy both incarnations of the story of Pink, a rock star crippled by a pervading sense of fear, isolated in his hotel room, retreating into the fantasy world of TV and his own darkness while reflecting on his past, contemplating his future. Pink's thoughts take him back to World War II, as he envisions men like his father falling in the service of their country, their sacrifices hard to justify in the wake of Pink's antipathy. He recalls his days as a schoolboy, enduring abusive schoolmasters, his sense of self being ground down by the system, and the constant void in his life where his father should be. Even Pink's most feeble attempts at humanity--trying to save a sick rat--are quashed, and these events burn a brand in his mind, one that fosters the need to build a wall to protect himself from feeling hurt anymore. It is a simple, tragic premise: to keep everyone out, let no one in. Pink continues to torture himself by withdrawing further inward, to the point where he can no longer identify with others--seeing threats in anything that is different than him and his warped sense of purity, of discipline. For Pink, it is a cycle of self-destruction, one that he does not feel compelled to stop or even slow. The wall has been raised so high that he can't see beyond the prison he has constructed for himself, and his metamorphosis from a "Howard Hughes" into an "Adolf Hitler" becomes the ne plus ultra of that "perfect isolation", his riot shield raised, and jackboots poised to stomp via another simple (if cruel) premise: hurt them before they hurt you. Just like the album, Pink Floyd The Wall is a deeply psychological tale, warning others to avoid Pink's unfortunate slip into paranoia and madness. The film is punctuated by gorgeous animated sequences that are loaded with bold imagery, and deliver a grotesque beauty alongside the potent score. And while Pink Floyd The Wall emerged a short time after the advent of MTV and proliferation of music videos, this film stands as so much more, and is one of the most recognizable and celebrated rock operas, as well as a nihilistic and introspective examination of the self.
Recommended for: Fans of progressive rock and a story driven by the musical score. The music and accompanying images create a compelling story that haunts and tackles mental health in an artful way.