Like many kids from my generation, I got hooked onto Pink Floyd as a teenager while still in school. All it took was a few late-night listening sessions with my friends for the psychedelic rock band to become one of my all-time favorites. Playing the songs on cassettes, losing out on a lot of the high fidelity compared to the later versions on CD and now digital, even now, decades later, this album holds an unassailable position in my heart, for I not only have the DVD of ‘The Wall’, but also have the CD and vinyl format.

Of course, its their film, ‘Pink Floyd: The Wall’, that holds a special appeal to me as a movie fan. Completing 33 years this year of its release, I decided to take a look back and feature this great film.

‘The Wall’ is a 1982 British live action/animated surrealist musical drama film based on Pink Floyd's 1979 album ‘The Wall’. Pink Floyd's ‘The Wall’ is arguably the best `rock opera' ever, a depressive and touching film by vocalist and bassist Roger Waters from The Pink Floyd and directed by Alan Parker. The screenplay is fantastic and each time the viewer sees this film, he or she will certainly discover new details that have not paid attention to when they watched it the last time.

The Plot: When his wife leaves him during a tour, the rock star Pink Floyd (The Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof) becomes paranoid and mad, building a wall between the world in his mind and the real world. The process has begun when he was a child losing his father in the war and now missing him dearly. His overprotective mother and the repressive education at school help to build the insanity process. He becomes a violent dictator and goes on trial in his mind, and tries to destroy the wall he built. However, this coping mechanism eventually backfires, and Pink demands to be set free. The cast is excellent, highlighting the presence of the cult-actress Jenny Wright in the role of an American groupie.

The Music: The outstanding music score by Pink Floyd completes this masterpiece. It’s interesting that the movie is an adaptation of the band’s seminal 1979 album of the same name, but it uses alternate versions of some of the songs. It also includes a couple of songs that don’t appear on the album at all. In any case, even though I’ve heard most of the songs hundreds of times, I always find myself singing along. It’s subtle but impressive work so I wouldn’t necessarily call this a musical even though music is integral to telling the film’s story, with a dialogue lagging behind all the way in bits and pieces. A huge part of the film’s visual appeal is the beauty in animated sequences by Gerald Scarfe. At once mesmerizing and horrifying, they perfectly illustrate Pink’s inner anguish and darkest nightmares. The famous goose-stepping hammers call to mind both the hammer and sickle and the swastika in a chilling sequence warning against the threat of totalitarianism. 

But the angst and societal issues that the album addresses only seem aged now. Its themes of isolation and alienation have not been diminished by time and seem newly relevant. Anxieties about large-scale armed conflict, rising authoritarianism, and civil unrest are still fresh and topical. The only songs from the album not used in the film are Hey You and The Show Must Go On.

Finale: Despite a reportedly troubled production, the film has managed to stand the test of time with the film receiving generally positive reviews that has it into a cult following among Pink Floyd fans.

The film's official premiere was the Empire, Leicester Square, in London on 14^th July 1982. It was attended by Waters and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, but not Richard Wright. who was no longer a member of the band. It was also attended by various celebrities including Geldof, Scarfe, Paula Yates, Pete Townshend, Sting, Roger Taylor, Lulu and Andy Summers among many others.

The film also weaves together some autobiographical details of Roger Waters’ life with the sad story of ex-band member (and so-called crazy diamond) Syd Barrett along with Waters’ feelings about war, fame, and mental illness into a 95-minute rock and roll nightmare.

Bonus Features: It has lots of them, beginning with ‘The Other Side of the Wall’ - a 25 minute documentary about the making of the film. ‘Retrospective’ – a new 45 minute documentary with interviews with Roger Waters, Gerald Scarfe, Alan Parker, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie.  It also has film trailer and production stills.

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira