Stars: Pink Floyd, Eleanor David, Bob Geldof, Bob Hoskins, James Laurenson, Bob Hoskins, Bob Hoskins, Roger Waters

Director: Alan Parker

Summary: A BAFTA Award winning film which tells the story of a man who loses his father in the Second World War. Raised by a protective mother he turns to drugs and eventually insanity. Soundtrack by Pink Floyd.

Loosely based on the life story of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's original front man (who was kicked out of the band for his bizarre and disturbing behavior only to go insane shortly thereafter), PINK FLOYD: THE WALL stars Bob Geldof as Pink, a mentally damaged man who has gone from a hopeful child artist to a burned-out rock star drifting away from reality. As Pink festers in his hotel room, elements of his abusive childhood come back to haunt him until he begins to descend into absolute madness.
Director Alan Parker's intense and fully realized film interpretation of the English band's classic album, THE WALL melds whimsical fantasy with dark Shakespearean drama. The film makes innovative use of sets, costumes, and special effects to create a unique surrealistic strangeness worthy of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali's UN CHIEN ANDALOU. Both disturbing and bedazzling, PINK FLOYD: THE WALL is a must-see film for any music lover.

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By any rational measure, Alan Parker's cinematic interpretation of Pink Floyd's The Wallis a glorious failure. Glorious because its imagery is hypnotically striking, frequently resonant and superbly photographed by the gifted cinematographer Peter Biziou. And a failure because the entire exercise is hopelessly dour, loyal to the bleak themes and psychological torment of Roger Waters' great musical opus, and yet utterly devoid of the humour that Waters certainly found in his own material. Any attempt to visualise The Wallwould be fraught with artistic danger, and Parker succumbs to his own self-importance, creating a film that's as fascinating as it is flawed. The film is, for better and worse, the fruit of three artists in conflict--Parker indulging himself, and Waters in league with designer Gerald Scarfe, whose brilliant animated sequences suggest that he should have directed and animated this film in its entirety. Fortunately, this clash of talent and ego does not prevent The Wallfrom being a mesmerising film. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof (in his screen debut) is a fine choice to play Waters's alter ego--an alienated, "comfortably numb" rock star whose psychosis manifests itself as an emotional (and symbolically physical) wall between himself and the cold, cruel world. Weaving Waters's autobiographical details into his own jumbled vision, Parker ultimately fails to combine a narrative thread with experimental structure. It's a rich, bizarre, and often astonishing film that will continue to draw a following, but the real source of genius remains the music of Roger Waters. --Jeff Shannon

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Documentaries - 1. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL: The Making Of THE WALL, 2. RETROSPECTIVE, Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer, Easter Eggs, Stills Gallery
Year:	1982
Release Date:	June 2, 2003
Runtime:	80 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	501987
Keywords:	Music, Films, Wall, Pink, Floyd, Shows, Performing, Musicals, Arts, Digipack
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts