Pink Floyd: The Wall (Special Limited Edition)

The film is, for better and worse, the fruit of three artists in conflict--Parker indulging himself, and Waters in league with designer Gerald Scarfe, whose brilliant animated sequences suggest that he should have directed and animated this film in its entirety. Fortunately, this clash of talent and ego does not prevent The Wall from being a mesmerizing film. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof (in his screen debut) is a fine choice to play Waters's alter ego--an alienated, "comfortably numb" rock star whose psychosis manifests itself as an emotional (and symbolically physical) wall between himself and the cold, cruel world. Weaving Waters's autobiographical details into his own jumbled vision, Parker ultimately fails to combine a narrative thread with experimental structure. It's a rich, bizarre, and often astonishing film that will continue to draw a following, but the real source of genius remains the music of Roger Waters. --Jeff Shannon

Additional Features
Say what you will about Alan Parker's film of Pink Floyd: The Wall, but this is a great DVD in terms of supplemental material. In addition to a promotional featurette from 1982, a two-part retrospective documentary will prove fascinating for Pink Floyd loyalists. In a rare and insightful interview, Roger Waters discusses the autobiographical inspirations for his musical masterpiece, and equally interesting observations are made by director Alan Parker, animator-designer Gerald Scarfe, cinematographer Peter Biziou, and producer Alan Marshall. The audio commentary by Waters and Scarfe adds depth to their documentary interviews.

In terms of its sound and image quality, the DVD is totally awesome, particularly in the Dolby Digital 5.1 configuration, which is even more impressive than Pink Floyd's original album. Screen menus are cleverly designed to cater to Pink Floyd fans (with appropriate titles such as "A Saucerful of Features," etc.), and all the bonus features combine to form a comprehensive record of this troubled but fascinating production. For Pink Floyd fans, this is clearly a must-have DVD. --Jeff Shannon

The story goes that a has-been rock star, Pink, has been taking drugs and is a psychotic. As he drops deeper into insanity, he remembers his child hood, how he never had a father, that his father died in the war. He also remembers how his mother wasn't with him that much and how he didn't have many friends. One day, he goes ballistic and destorys his apartment and goes to a hotel. There, he decides to lead an organization, with two hammers crossed for symbols, to destroy the city. I will not give away such an amazing ending!

This film has such an odd mix of cartoon and live action that it leaves such an impact on the viewer. The way the film is done, the ingenious fact there is little dialogue and so much music, it seems like there is a ton of audio. I cannot describe the cartoons, they are so well done and so weird.

Some people don't like this film because they believe they are saying school sucks. Really, that is not what Pink Floyd is saying, listen to the song. "Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone." They are describing how the teachers beat the kids and put them down. They are trying to get across that the way school was, and I believe still is in England, sucks. The kids would beat the kids regularily, and they are crafting them into what the teacher wants them to be.

Another message in the film is, and they do it so ingeniously, don't do drugs. That is the main reason Pink (not the band, the main character,) dropped into insanity was bacause he did too many drugs.

The final, and the most powerful message, was that war creates more problems than it solves. Pink's dad died in the war and that also help to turn him insane; he never had a father, and, it shows in his child hood, that he missed out on a lot of things because of it.

This film is definitly a must see for any Pink Floyd fan or any fans of films in general. It is so weird, yet so well done that you just have to like it. I give this movie five stars, and I would give it a ton more if I could.


Brilliant Movie   December 8, 2004
Despite what people might say, this movie has a deep meaning. Mix Gerald Scarfe's animations and Pink Floyds music together, and you've got yourself a movie that actually makes you think. It might be hard to follow the movie, since its not done in a chronological way, but once it starts to make sence, you will appreciate the meaning and the artistic brilliance of the movie.


Cynicism run amuck...   June 30, 2004
A. Ort (Youngstown, Ohio)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

It seems to me that Roger Waters has us all fooled, that this was actually a parody of the highest order. If you watch the interview with him on the bonus materials on the DVD, you can almost see him smile when he discusses the inspiration for this film. It's a film that we read into it what we will. To a small degree, it is autobiographical (most everyone knows about the incident when he spit on a fan during the Animals tour).

Taking that as a leaping off point, he takes the conclusion of the absurdity of the rock star life to its logical end. And it is brilliant. Pink Floyd was simply not the same after the breakup.

It is visually and viscerally stunning. I used to watch this over and over again and it seemed to tap into what I was feeling at the time and it provided comfort, a sense that someone else could relate to the isolation and loneliness I felt, even in the midst of people. I had to replace my vinyl record several times because I listened to it so much. The movie provides eye candy for the songs.

The plot is quite simple: Pink ('by the way, which one's Pink?') is a rock star whose about had enough of the excess and snaps, journeying into his brain way too far. We see the meltdown unfold and follow the transition to something much more frightening, gaining a vision of just how far human vanity can take us. The songs and the visuals form a cohesive whole.

Sure it's pretentious and takes itself too seriously at times - but isn't that the point? It works.

It's one of the darker takes on this life but it nails it brilliantly. You'll find that many of the scenes are bigger than the context of the film. Many of them could be related to events in the political or social sphere of then and today.

It's a bit dated, perhaps, or I've merely gotten older. But the extras on the DVD make it worthwhile, including the video for 'Hey You' featuring footage that didn't make it into the film.


This movie screwed my life up   June 24, 2004
0 out of 5 found this review helpful

This movie screwed my head up.You probably have to be stoned to wach this.I will never look at anything the same again.