THE WALL (THE MOVIE)

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.