Released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 1982. Rated R.
Pink Floyd is often considered to be one of the greatest progressive rock bands in music history, with a catalogue that includes "Dark Side of the Moon", "Meddle", "Animals", and "Wish You Were Here". Then, in the spirit of The Who's "Tommy", the band decided to make a rock opera, only instead of being an optimistic, upbeat story about a deaf, dumb, and blind guy that's good at pinball, this one is an extremely dark and disturbing tale about a troubled, doped-up rock star who goes into isolation from the outside world descending into psychotic madness...yeah, this was NOT a happy album.
In 1982, 3 years after the album's release, a motion picture adaptation was released into theatres under Metro Goldwyn Mayer and directed by Alan Parker, the same man who would later direct the controversial drama "Mississippi Burning". The full story behind this film is that it focuses on Pink (get it?), a famous rock star who has had a difficult past. Early in the film, we are shown what his childhood was like that got him into such a state. His father was killed in the war when he was a baby, his mother becomes overprotective of him, and goes to a school where the teachers abuse their authority by punishing and humiliating him, all because he's writing poems during class (one of which that we hear is the lyrics to the song "Money" from "Dark Side of the Moon").
Years later, Pink is an adult (played by musician Bob Geldof), now married, and has a career in the music business. Unfortunately, the happiness between Pink and his wife is short-lived, as she has an affair with someone else while he's on tour, which he eventually finds out via a collect call. It is here where he builds his "wall", a barrier made from his memories to isolate himself both physically and socially, and the point where he begins to descend towards madness. Over the course of his descent, he trashes his own hotel room, shaves his whole body, continues to sit and watch WWII-related television (mainly the 1955 British film "The Dam Busters"), and even becomes a dictator in his own mind where he commands a Nazi-esque socialist party known as the Hammers. We see all of this unfold as the music from Pink Floyd's 1979 album is played throughout the film's running time.
To the casual viewer who hasn't listened to the album or know of the backstory, the story can be seen as very cryptic, even if they've been paying attention throughout the picture. What I mean is that they would walk away after seeing the film going "what the fuck did I just watch?", and that much I can understand. This is a movie where you have to dig deep into what was behind the events that took place, and after you do that, it'll at least make some sense. For me, I understood the story, as much of it was based on the life of Pink Floyd's then-lead singer Roger Waters. For example, his real-life father, who served in WWII, was killed in the line of battle when he was very young, and in the film (and album), Pink's father was killed in battle when he was a wee baby. I won't get into the other connections, as we'd be here all day. There's a lot of resources online, and on DVD releases that you can use in order to fully understand the story.
Visually, the movie is a thing of beauty and also something right out of disturbia. The cinematography is well done, especially during the song "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2", and the implied symbolism is not only strong, but also extremely unsettling. Even the animation segments throughout the film, which were masterfully done by caricature artist and animator Gerald Scarfe (who would later be the lead animation director for the 1997 Disney film "Hercules") is beautiful and creepy at the same time, to the point where it is simply described as "fucked up", and honestly, that is the best compliment I can give it. The movie isn't rated R for nothing.
Overall, this is not only what I consider to be a great movie, it's also one of my top 10 favorite movies period. I LOVE Pink Floyd, and anyone who is also a fan of the group, or rock music in general, needs to check this out as soon as humanly possible, no matter how they do it (though I would not at all promote or encourage piracy of any kind). As for casual viewers, I would recommend listening to the album first and looking up the backstory before proceeding.
DID YOU KNOW?:
- The song "When The Tigers Broke Free", which is heard in the film, is not in the original album. The song would be released in the album entitled The Final Cut.
- One song segment was filmed, but was unfortunately never used. The song was "Hey You", the first track on the second disc of the original album. Clips from the segment can be seen briefly during the "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 3" segment. It is also available in its entire form as a bonus feature on the DVD. However, the entire scene is in black-and-white and is a rough cut.