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score 10/10
Listening to Dark Side of the Moon, or in this case, watching The Wall is always a spiritual experience for me. How did I reach this point? Well, like so many of my generation, I grew up hearing Pink Floyd ad nauseam on the radio, never thinking much about it; their music was bizarre, otherworldly, and dreamlike, but nonetheless heard too often to be really appreciated. Fast forward to about 19. One of their songs from Dark Side of the Moon entered my head. Music always enters when I awake, even something I haven't heard in many years.
So I sat down and listened, for the first time, really listened. It was like hearing Pink Floyd for the first time. The lyrics were... I couldn't believe it. Disillusioned with society, the narrator sees through all the stupid games, meaningless rituals and trappings that amount to an ultimately meaningless existence. Money, time... all a poison for the soul and the world that most people drift through without a second glance is a nightmare to anyone who sees it with these cold eyes. It was all spelled out there, as if straight from my mind but more clear and complete. So Dark Side of the Moon suddenly made sense, was completely profound and profoundly personal I had a similar experience with The Wall. This too was heard endlessly on the radio without thinking much of it, even after my aforementioned revelation. Only when I saw this film did it really fall into place, and in a major way. Pink Floyd: The Wall is many things to me. Depressing it certainly is, and a dangerous film for anyone battling depression. It broadens the world view introduced on Dark Side, adding to the bleakness, only this time the insanity flirted with on "Brain Damage" is explored in full.
I haven't gone through absolutely everything that Pink experiences in the film (and I hope no one has to), but many of the scenes are a bit too real. They hit hard, and that's one thing about these Pink Floyd albums: they're profound and potentially beneficial, but far from easy to digest. I guess that's why I don't listen to them often; they're for special occasions when I'm truly ready for the trip.
The Wall is indeed personal; I envisioned making this kind of movie years before I saw it. I'm a lover of the surreal and this movie certainly has that, not only in the excellently twisted animation of Gerald Scarfe but the central narrative in general. The animations, of course, complete the music like its missing half. These also create the most disturbing moments, the parts of the film that will really stay with you.
The acting is great; I love the spontaneity and risks taken to ensure its realness - I certainly noticed that. The masks are appropriate, there's no other word for it, and the school children walking in unison was a great nod to Metropolis. Anyway, the way the visuals accompany the music is sometimes sad, or discomforting, but always completely fitting. Maybe I'll write more later. Right now I'm deliriously tired.
arc_a2007 18 May 2010
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2251922/ |
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22-11-2019 06:07:18
