In 1979, Pink Floyd released their iconic concept album, The Wall. It was one of their most successful albums, and housed some of their most well-known songs, including "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" and "Comfortably Numb." It was a particularly long album, running for over 80 minutes, and told a story through its 26 songs about a troubled rock star who becomes overwhelmed and driven to despair by the chaos of his lifestyle, slowly withdrawing from the world at large as the album goes on.
Its narrative was strong enough for it to be adapted into a film in 1982, directed by Alan Parker and known as Pink Floyd – The Wall. It's a film unlike any other, and it creates a strong impression from the way it puts images to the words and music of the album it adapts. To celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2022, here are 10 things that make it an incredible and unparalleled viewing experience.
Perfectly visualizes a great album
.jpg)
The first challenge to a movie like Pink Floyd – The Wall is the same sort of challenge most adaptations face. That question is how do you take a premise or story that worked in one medium and make it just as compelling in an entirely different one?
It's one thing for a book-to-movie adaptation to do this successfully, but here, the filmmakers pulled off translating a great album into a great movie. The Wall is already an impactful album with an interesting (though not always super clear) story, so the fact this 1982 film successfully puts images to the words and music is an amazing achievement.
Helps develop the narrative of 'The Wall'
.jpeg)
While Roger Waters - the lead writer behind the original album - intended there to be a narrative to The Wall, it's not the easiest to follow, especially if you don't give the album multiple listens. The album's lead character, a musician named Pink, goes through a great deal throughout the harrowing storyline, with flashbacks, surreal nightmares, and drug-induced fever dreams all playing a part in the bleak narrative.
It's a great deal for one album to develop, which is where the film comes in to pick up some slack. Thanks to the visuals that come with a film adaptation (plus some occasional dialogue not present on the album), it's easier to get a handle on the story from the movie, compared to the album. It's certainly possible to understand much of the story through one viewing, as opposed to the album, which would likely require numerous listens for most.
Feels like a feature-length music video
With Pink Floyd – The Wall being a little longer than the album, and featuring minimal dialogue, most of the runtime features songs from the album playing. As such, much of the movie ends up feeling like one long music video (or, more accurately, like a couple-dozen music videos stitched together to form a narrative).
It might sound like it would be repetitive, but the shifts in visuals throughout ensure the scenes accompanying each new song always feel fresh and exciting. Alan Parker was also a tremendously talented director, meaning the film looks way better than the average music video. Additionally, lead actor Bob Geldof is himself a musician, and even though he doesn't play himself, he fits right at home in the film, and is clearly a natural when it comes to acting in music video-style scenes.
Combines live-action and animation to stunning effect
One of the most striking things about Pink Floyd – The Wall is the way it combines live-action footage with surreal, often disturbing animation. It's done to keep the visuals varied throughout, but also to add to the film's unsettling atmosphere, and better depict what's going on within the main character's head.
This mostly applies to the animated segments, as they are particularly unnerving to look at, often being used to show nightmares or intense psychological distress (as present near the end of the movie, where the protagonist has withdrawn completely into his thoughts). Some live-action segments get pretty surreal, too, but the twisted animation takes it to the next level.
Takes a disturbing look at the price of fame
Roger Waters was writing from experience when he made The Wall, and based the character of Pink on himself and ex-Pink Floyd bandmate Syd Barrett. It's a painfully honest look at the price of being a rockstar, and spends much of its time on the downsides to the profession and the fame that comes with it, rather than any of the upsides.
It makes for a downbeat and cynical experience, and that premise becomes more harrowing in the film adaptation, where no detail is spared. The section of the film that accompanies "Comfortably Numb" is particularly distressing, with Pink being hastily torn out of a drug-induced slumber by a doctor who injects him to wake him up and get him to perform on-stage. Even the presence of the usually lovable Bob Hoskins (known for playing Mario in 1993) can't make this scene anything but horrifying.
Still contains relevant themes about Fascism, greed, and corruption
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a movie that becomes increasingly dark as it goes on (and it doesn't exactly start happily, either). Part of Pink's downfall involves him thinking of himself as a fascist dictator, with him whipping concertgoers into frenzies and inspiring violence and destruction on a mass scale.
It works within the film's world and story, but might seem a little jarring otherwise. Nevertheless, the idea of charismatic leaders inciting supporters to commit harm is something that's never really gone away, making the darkest parts of Pink Floyd – The Wall still pack a punch. That it also manages to work in anti-war messages and critique greedy and corrupt music producers also adds to the film's power.
Has (obviously) great music
It's a no-brainer that an album based on a Pink Floyd album is going to have great music. While The Wall might not be the band's very best album, it's up there, and the fact it has such a strong narrative (and goes for almost an hour-and-a-half) makes it easier to adapt into a film than better albums like Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals.
Still, it can serve as a great introduction to the music of Pink Floyd, and it undeniably features some of their best songs. It's a complex album when it comes to its lyrics and musical arrangements, and the 80+ minutes of music are done justice in this film adaptation of The Wall.
Blends a wide variety of genres in a short runtime
It's hard to define Pink Floyd – The Wallwhen it comes to genre/s. It's arguably a musical, even if the characters seldom actually break into song. It's a psychological drama, maybe, but crosses over into horror at times as well, thanks to its nightmarish visuals. Some scenes deal with war, and it perhaps contains an element of satire when it comes to commenting on things like corruption in the music industry and Fascist dictators.
It doesn't need to be pigeonholed, though. What's important is that it blends numerous genres and styles throughout its runtime, and it's one of the things that make it feel unlike any other movie out there.
Contains truly nightmarish imagery
It needs to be emphasized how unsettling Pink Floyd – The Wall gets with some of its imagery. The early scenes deal with Pink's father being killed in World War Two, with the wartime images - both live-action and animated - establishing a dark tone.
From there, things get more intense as Pink's mental well-being unravels. By the end of the film, there's an increase in animation, and it's become even more twisted. The visuals that accompany the song "The Trial" are worth highlighting in this regard, as they're stomach-churning and even sickening (as they need to be, for that point in the story).
Has never been equaled or truly replicated since
No movie has equaled or mirrored Pink Floyd – The Wall, in terms of being a musical/psychological drama/horror/satire/war movie hybrid. Its closest comparable movie might be 1975's Tommy, which adapted The Who's album of the same name to the screen, but even then, the tones and visuals of each differ drastically.
At the same time, it's hard to imagine someone trying to replicate its success, as it's entirely its own thing. For being about as good (and unique) as an album-to-film adaptation can be, Pink Floyd – The Wall has more than earned its status as a cult classic.
ncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51kvaq6ymadpaepmXq1tMRmrpqknGKBcXnYnpirq12hrrWx0WZoaWWimq60u82sZLCgqWK2tb%2BMrKuipJxiwbDAwKWjsmWlo7aywcRo