Posted by David St. Hubbins at 242.westvalleycity-03rh15rt-ut.dial-access.att.net on January 19, 2003 at 00:43:14:
In Reply to: Vincent - What's your opinion of The Wall movie? posted by Barry, Suave MF on January 18, 2003 at 18:33:24:
Well, I'm not Vincent, but you hit a subject I've just GOT to comment on: "The Wall".
This is a film that my friends and I must've watched about twenty times together, stoned of course. We naturally thought it was pure genius. I thought it was an amazing visualization of the album, the nazi rally during the two "In The Flesh" versions were very striking, as was all of Gerald Scarfe's animation, like the dove turning into an eagle in "Goodbye Blue Sky" or the "pussy monster" in "Don't Leave Me Now". And "The Trial" stuff was pure genius, too.
I now own this on DVD and there is nothing "new" added to the film that wasn't already in the original 1982 release. Like part of the song "When The Tigers Broke Free", played at the very beginning of the film when Pink's dad is lighting the lantern, listening to the bombs outside, and later in the movie when Pink puts on his dad's old uniform, the rest of "When The Tigers Broke Free" plays. That was in the original film. It's a really stirring song, the way it's sung by that men's choir. According to Roger Waters, it's very personally accurate, too. His father was in the Royal Fusileers, Company C, and he died not far from the Anzio bridgehead in Italy during a major counteroffensive by the Germans, hence the "Tigers" breaking free: the German Tiger Tanks. The song from beginning to end more or less describes the circumstances surrounding Roger Waters' father's death, to the letter.
Bob Geldof sang the two versions of "In The Flesh" in the film, during the fascist rallies. He did that in the original release, as well. There have been no changes since the original in 1982. I guess since he was live in front of an audience, they thought it was best for him to actually be singing instead of lip synching to Roger Waters' voice.
Yes, they did leave out some songs from the album, but I guess it just didn't work for the film to follow the album to the letter. The omission of "Hey You" is a bit of a disappointment. Adapting an album into a film isn't much different from adapting a book into a film, I guess. A movie is just a slightly different beast.
Twenty years later, I still think it's an absolutely genius film. Just like the band, Pink Floyd, the film "The Wall" is one of a kind.