Mutant Reviewers from Hell do
"We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control."

1982 R / Musical Drama Directed by: Alan Parker Starring: Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, James Laurenson

Tagline

The Memories. The Madness. The Music... The Movie.

Summary Capsule

A rock star named Pink descends into madness through a series of experiences

Mutant Meter

Movie Store [proceeds go toward monthly MRFH upkeep]

Amazon.com: DVD | Amazon.com: Soundtrack

Justin's Rating: A special salute to Hell's Bells... I *liked* this movie!
Justin's Review: When I’m depressed — when a woman’s broken my heart, when I feel lost in the world, when I’m not sure of myself — there’s one album that I turn to. I sit on a windowsill and crank up Pink Floyd’s "The Wall". It’s a hodge-podge of emotions that sometimes sum up feelings of rage and insanity that float through us all. Even though I love the album, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to sit through a two-hour music video of it. But even with basically no dialogue and little sense, it quickly won me over.

"It’s not your average cup of tea, unless you like a few lumps of LSD with it."

At the start of The Wall, rock star Pink is at the end of his sanity. He flashes through his life, from childhood to fame and folly. His life stories are told with a heavy surrealistic touch, ranging from animated WWII scenes to his failed love life and transformation into a Nazi-esque dictator. You see the world through his eyes, messed up (almost) beyond repair from bad experiences and massive quantities of drugs.

Perhaps there should be a subtitled version of this movie to attempt to explain to the millions of people who will be utterly confused while watching. It’s not your average cup of tea, unless you like a few lumps of LSD with it. I personally don’t think it’s incoherent at all, particularly if you let the lyrics tell you the story and have the images enhance the mood. The different episodes are all told with a variety of style and flair, including some very sweet animation and all sorts of symbolism that sends any film major into major epileptic fits.

My rating up there refers to a video series I had to watch at my Baptist high school. "Hell's Bells" exposed the many, many evils of rock-n-roll (remember, this was before Marolyn Manson came on the scene), and singled out The Wall for it's supposed anti-authority message. Well, I guess I'm a Christian who dwells in rock and roll hell, then. So be it! I really love this movie, particularly for the vivid images that approach museum levels of art. So be it.

Clare's Rating: if only I could go crazy enough to build a cool weird looking thing out of all the debris in my very own smashed up hotel room
Clare's Review: I saw this move for the first time when I was 12 years old. Looking back, I'm amazed my head didn't just blow off my neck the first time I tried to fathom what the heck was going on in this flick. Before then, the only real movie I'd seen was Dirty Dancing. Seeing movies before you're ready is really related to how many older siblings you have. I digress.

"I am ceaselessly amazed at how complex, sad, brutal and beautiful it is, sometimes all at once."

Since then, I've seen this movie a bunch of times, once on the big screen with mondo surround sound (my friend Larry who is now playing gigs at that very same tiny assed theater may or may not remember this "date"). The reasons I love The Wall are as follow in a very specific order:

- Every time I see it it's like seeing it ffor the first time. I notice something new every time. Bring something new in myself to the experience ever time and I am ceaselessly amazed at how complex, sad, brutal and beautiful it is, sometimes all at once.

- The music. What can I say. It's Pink Flloyd. The songs on this album tell a story. The story in the movie is vague and blury for a reason. It allows the viewer to fill in the blanks with whatever they want while still watching a very specifically designed story structure. To me, that's pure genius.

- The animation. I've seen plenty of musicc videos try to rip off the sheer rock and roll of this movie's incorporation of animation into their projects and it has never knocked my head back the way this movie does (except for MAYBE a couple of Tool videos - that's a big maybe). It makes sense that the music had to be animated in sections. Real filmed images can't touch what's going on lyrically or rythmically

- It's beautiful. I mean, it's nasty, crudde, disgusting, sad and heartbreaking, but for some reason I always walk away from this movie feeling fuller, more alive and more in tune with my own "stuff" than I did before I decided to sit down and take a peek - and it's just a bunch of moving pictures and musical noises arranged somehow. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Lost in TV Land Hitler? Stalin? Pansies. Homeroom, 7:45am.

Didja Notice? [some sources: IMDb]

• During the song "Another Brick In The Wall Part III," the movie on the television that Bob Geldof smashes with a guitar is Snows of Kilimanjaro. Onscreen are Gregory Peck and Susan Hayworth.
• During "The Thin Ice", Pink can be seen floating in a swimming pool. Geldof (who is infamous for his dislike of baths) couldn't swim, and instead was supported in similar manner to that used for the flying sequences in Superman.
• The shot of Mother when young Pinky is asking a girl to dance reveals the "mask" on the curtains behind her.
• Jenny Wright wasn't told that Geldof would be throwing that bottle at her, so her reaction of ducking was totally spontaneous.
• Real skinheads used in the neo-Nazi segment.
• In the hotel room Pink is watching The Dam Busters, about the British destruction of Ruhr Dam in Germany. This is a reference to the fact that in the trial scene, his punishment is to "tear down the wall". [thanks Ian A.!]

Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?

Just for the music, baby. Just for the music.

Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]

The poetry that young Pink was caught with during "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" is the second verse from "Money", off Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". Far from being "absolute rubbish", this album stayed longer on the Billboard chart than any other album: more than 700 weeks.

Groovy Quotes

Pink: I'm waiting in this cell because I have to know... have I been guilty all this time?

Pink: We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control.

Pink: Is there anybody out there?

DVD Review

This is one mammoth deluxe DVD I still haven't gotten all the way through. The animated menu system is a bit confusing if you're trying to figure out where to go... kinda like the spirit of the movie, I suppose. The movie itself is a nice remastered, digital audio thingie. From what I've uncovered, here's a list of the extras. A couple documentaries (semi-interesting), a commentary by Roger Waters and Gerald Scarfe, alternate music videos for "Hey You", "Another Brick in the Wall, pt 2", the trailer, stills, a gallery, control tests, and possibly some hidden stuff. They did put a lot of work into the sound aspect, a good choice since that's what this film is all about! There's an extended "set the controls" menu section that helps you set up your surround sound system properly, and even tests it for you. Never seen that on a DVD before! A couple really neat features is a "lyrics on" choice, that prints the lyrics on the screen during the movie, and a "song selection" choice (instead of scene selection), so you can instantly go to the song of your choice (although, unfortunately these are just numbered 1-XX). One last cool thing - a fold-out mini-poster inside the DVD keep case. If you're a Pink Floyd buff, this DVD will have you drooling.

If you liked this movie, try these:

• Tommy
• Equilibrium
• Heavy Metal