Pink Floyd The Wall
The Wall remains one of the greatest works of art to come out of the 20th century, an album that (along with The Whoâs Tommy) redefined so called ârock operasâ in such a way that it can never be topped. It came as little to no surprise that Hollywood would come calling so soon after the initial albumâs release in 1979, leading to this 1982 film directed by underrated British auteur Alan Parker. One of the great surprises though came with the decision to not cast Pink Floyd frontman and primary original composer Roger Waters in the role of Pink Floyd, rock star. Conflicting reports have stated that either Waters was not capable in any way as an actor to have pulled it off (which is odd since he is the one doing most of the singing in the film albeit from off camera) while Parker has maintained that it was a mutual decision since it was felt that Waters was âtoo closeâ to the material to be able to do it justice (which is also odd since the album is said to be more inspired by former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett who left the band due to a severe battle with mental illness that continued until the end of his life and Waters himself saw no problem with performing the role live on several occasions including the legendary 1990 show in Berlin). So that led to the audition and casting of Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats, himself infamously known going in as NOT being a fan of Pink Floyd but amazingly everything turned out to be fine in the end since besides Watersâ voice doing 90 percent of the singing here, most fans have come to accept Geldof as being a mere stand in / body double for Waters because the style of the filmmaking more or less dictates that ANYBODY could have played the physical incarnation of Pink onscreen provided that they grimace at the appropriate moments while the original singer does the rest. Of course, Geldof (depending on who you talk to) is himself a frightening figure in many ways, alleged to have defrauded millions through the Live Aid concerts which he organized not to mention his connection to the mysterious death of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. But here heâs fine, only singing on camera for the In The Flesh numbers (also a controversial decision) and being put through the paces the rest of the time. Sadly, both Waters and Parker (who feuded during filming) were unhappy with the final product with Waters declaring it to be âtoo depressingâ (really Roger?) and Parker likening it to having the quality of a student film which most agree it certainly is not. The basic idea of course is to take the music from the legendary original album and make one long music video out of it, albeit one that makes very clear the true themes, concepts and actual storyline of that album so that it is abundantly and artistically understandable just what it was which Waters and the rest of the band were trying to convey through the music itself. And that would be through the character of âPink Floydâ, a brilliant and highly respected musician who has personal issues as deep as an unfathomable black hole, starting with losing his Father in World War II (an especially unfortunate incident since it was before he was born and thus he grew up having never known him), becoming overly attached to his apparently overbearing Mother (keeping in mind that she was still a seemingly good woman if not a bit overprotective), having to put up with going to school with a dictator like Teacher who used abusive, demeaning tactics in order to keep the students in line before growing up to become an adult rock star and encountering perhaps his worst adversary of them all: His Wife, with whom their relationship was a combination of maternal like attachment and his usual spells of noncommittal detachment which leads to her wandering away from him and into the arms of a sleazy nuclear disarmament activist who seems to only be so wantonly political so that he can attract like minded women and who appears blissfully unaware that this woman whom he has bedded down is actually the cheating wife of a famous rock star. But Pink himself is only too aware, descending deeper into a state of self isolation that would appear to be coping with his inability to deal with the world at hand by escaping it through constant watching of TV if not for the fact that he is currently on tour in The United States and is expected to perform concerts that he has been advertised for and his fans have spent their hard earned money to see him perform which he will be doing come Hell or high water as far as his Manager (Bob Hoskins in a throwaway cameo) is concerned. So, the forceful reemergence from the primary location of his hotel room sees him hook up with a resourceful American Groupie (Jenny Wright) who has worked her way past the front gate guard and the lower level roadies for an up close and personal encounter with Pink himself, only for all of it to go bad upon Pink (after realizing that this very cute and willing American girl was not his wife) going crazy and tearing his cozy little hotel room to shreds, nearly taking the poor girlâs head off with a champagne bottle and tossing a TV straight out the window. It is at this point that the story enters its darkest hour as Pink (obviously already fully aware that he is a popular rock star with the proper due influence to shape young minds with his music) imagines himself going into full fledged Hitler mode, fantasizing about becoming a skinhead, neo Nazi fascist leader posing as a rock star and even worse, inspiring his followers to go out and commit random acts of violence (especially on minorities) before marching the streets himself and imploring others to either follow his lead or risk being put down as well. Since this is portrayed as being a fantasy in his own mind and not something that actually happens, it brings the viewer into the understanding that Pink is just so tortured and despondent about the pain in his own life and what makes him unhappy that he finds solace in the notion of becoming a quasi Hitler figure with intentions of destroying the world rather than ruling it. This all leads up to the big Trial in his own mind and the oft debated meaning of the ending as to whether or not Pink plans on moving on with his life or rather if he ended it all by means of suicide. The star of the movie is not Geldof (obviously) nor is it any of the other actors but rather the brilliant, peerless music by the band Pink Floyd itself who used both Parkerâs live action imagery and (at times) the animation of Gerald Scarfe to convey the meaning of practically everything they were trying to say and even though the film drops the much renowned Hey You from the playlist and utilizes an altered, extended version of Empty Spaces, everything else remains intact including the legendary Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell, Mother and so much more, opening up and expanding the viewerâs mind in an optimal viewing situation that brings everything to the forefront and proves that despite the less than stellar opinions of those who made it (especially Waters whose screenplay was said to have been adhered to pretty closely), all forms of art are subjective to the effect it has had on each individual viewerâŠ
10/10