The Great Movie rock opera The Wall was first performed in 1978, at a time when some rock artists would take themselves very seriously. During that era, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones recorded the most singles or concept albums, The Who wrote Tommy and Quadrophenia, David Bowie and Genesis were close behind, and Pink Freud's "The Lost Wall" essentially brings this chapter to an end.
It's not a movie that sounds funny, and some viewers don't find it funny to look at, but the 1982 film is arguably the best of all serious feature films dedicated to rock. In these more timid times, it looks bolder than when I watched it at Cannes in 1982. Director Alan Parker appears to have deliberately chosen a number of different projects, this time with Gerald Scarfe, a caustic British political satirist, for this experimental indie film. It combines extremely powerful animation with a surreal journey through the memories and fantasies of an overdose rock star. It touches on sex, nuclear disarmament, the pain of war, the feeling of being abandoned as a child, the protagonist's deep unease with women, and the way a rock star lives at the end of the day.
While there are crowds, limousines and agents in the movie, there are no rock shows, no real concert scenes. There might be a concert scene, only disguised as a portrait of a modern-day fascist dictator whose fans became his adoring people. I don't think this dictator is like Hitler or Stalin, he seems more like a fantasy of British National Socialism led by Oswald Mosley.
The film was written almost entirely by Roger Waters, the band's brilliant, self-analyzing and often distressed lead singer. The protagonist of the movie is named Pink, played by Bob Geldof, but he is nothing like Pinker. He's got more scenes than anyone, going through those grueling scenes and sometimes even singing, and while it's not a movie about acting, it's essentially a 95-minute video. Several of Geldof's standard rock-star looks are common among other stars: long-haired sex gods, glamorous leaders, worried neurotics, gaunt drug victims. In one of his most harrowing scenes, he shaves all his body hair in a bloody reenactment of Scorsese's famous short film "The Shave." There is also a scene where he destroys a hotel room. He must have carefully studied the way the rooms were destroyed in Citizen Kane. The scene tells of a frightened fan running around the room, hiding behind furniture, but somehow not escaping to the hallway right away. Even more terrifying, Pink almost threw her with a wine bottle and furniture, but he didn't seem to be aware of her existence. The girl showed concern for him at first, quite gentle. This sets her apart from the other women in the film. Pink's mother was so devastated by her husband's death in the war that she became suffocating and domineering. Pinker's wife is estranged by Pinker, who is out of her life, and ends up cheating on her. They are at least identifiable. The most bizarre female characters in the film are animated by Scarf. The flower is so gynecological that Georgia O. Giefer might be intimidated. The flower seduced a male flower, raped him, plundered him, and finally devoured him. Maybe she reflects Pinker's fear of castration. Scarf twists the flower into other disturbing shapes, such as doves transforming into screaming eagles, then fighter jets, horrific sights of walls and stomping hammers marching across the land. As you can guess, I'm not describing it as a "musical film". It boldly and relentlessly visualizes Waters' desperation. It contains a theme that resonates with British audiences, an education system ruled by harsh and perverted headmasters. The opera's most famous song becomes the movie's best scene. When Parker visualized "Another Brick in the Wall", the students on the conveyor belt are fed into the machine and crushed into minced meat. In the process, the students lost the faces behind the blank masks, as did the followers of the dictator. Moral: Education produces brainless creatures fit for cannon fodder or fascist puppets. It seems that Waters doesn't like going to his alma mater's class reunion. The film still has a narrative, although it is not emphasized. It shows Pinker vividly envisioning his father's traumatic experience under fire, being overprotected, unable to have a successful marriage, not having the slightest pleasure in casual sex, and finally, under the influence of drugs, falling into Mental stress. The scene at the beginning reappears soon after, which implies that all the action in the movie takes place in Pinker's mind, in that hotel room, for more or less the time of the movie. The best audience for this movie would be those who are familiar with filmmaking techniques, aware of the director's style, and familiar with Roger Waters and Pink Floyd's band. I can't imagine a "rock fan" would love this movie on first viewing, despite its cult following. It's disturbing, frustrating, but also excellent. Nobody would like to make this movie. I remember when Alan Parker was getting a little eccentric, and I learned from Wikipedia that he had a fight with Waters and Scarf, and he considered the film to be one of the most harrowing experiences of his creative career. And Waters's own assessment: I found it to be too persistent for the senses that I, as a spectator, did not give me the opportunity to engage in it. So it was hard, painful and desperate, and three of its most important artists left it unhappy. Why would anyone want to watch it? Maybe it's because it's unlikely to be a pleasant experience for anyone - unless it's taken seriously. Drawing on Waters' disdain for most rock stars, especially himself, and the audience who adored them, I believe he wrote the darkness of his soul. In short, he is creating as an artist, not a performer. Alan Parker is a cheerful man, and while he's not without his temper, there are no obvious threads linking the film to his work. I can't say I know Parker well, but I've also spent enough time that it doesn't feel like he's naturally interested in the subject. I think these contradictions create the right kind of film for the genre. I don't ask its makers to have a good time. This reminds me of one of my favorite words from François: I ask a film to express the joy or pain of making a film. I'm not interested in anything in between.
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