Review of Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982) by Ivan D — 07 Oct 2010

Psychedelic trip of a film with an endless haze of acid-inspired imagery. I'm not much of a music fan, so I'm not particularly acquainted with the band Pink Floyd and their music(except perhaps the recurring mentions of their album "The Dark Side of the Moon").

After watching it, and dare I say it's one of those films with a content that's very, very hard to swallow at first viewing, I'll say "Pink Floyd The Wall" is a great, although ambiguous experience for me.

If there's one thing I have to continually praise in this film apart from the music, is its ability to tell a personal tale about a tormented protagonist and at the same time, tackle and expose with over-the-top surrealism some radical thoughts, the horrors of war, extreme education system, and the pain of psychological isolation.

The film's about Pink, a depressed rock star sheltering himself from the horrors of his past, but also clinging on some of its faded memories. There's not much dialogue in the film, and if there's ever a scene required to have some, the sounds were particularly toned down and almost inaudible, supporting the film's stance that "music", above all, is its grand storyteller.

There were also some "Python"-esque animations that enhanced the visual texture of the film, which led me to a conclusion that even though I can personally put "Pink Floyd The Wall" in the "unforgettable" section of my film-viewing experience, I think some scenes stand alone and are even better than the sum of most of its parts.

But it's a compelling film anyway, and even removing its surreal touches does not make the film's emotional core any weaker.