“I saw Steven Spielberg mouthing at the end when the lights came up, ‘what the hell was that?’ Indeed, it was like nothing anyone had ever seen before – a weird fusion of live action storytelling and of the surreal.” – Alan Parker
Hot Take… Pink Floyd The Wall is every bit the game changer that Citizen Kane was back in 1941. It defined film style for the MTV generation, heavily influencing filmmakers and introducing audiences to a whole new way of telling a story. This isn’t a musical or even a rock opera, it’s a movie. Some of the film has the rhythm and edits of what became the Music Video, but Parker is telling a complete story in a totally original way. He’s not just launching an assault on the senses.
One of the most surprising things – something I noticed when I got the chance to see this in a theater – is how much quiet is in it. The opening 5 minutes is remarkably calm and nearly silent. Throughout, the sound mix bounces between loud, crunchy rock and hushed tones. Along with that, the camera doesn’t dart and charge around in a chaotic frenzy. It glides. Rarely holding still, this is one of the smoothest films ever made. People hear Pink Floyd The Wall and think Top 5 Films to Watch While on Drugs, but this is more tightly controlled than you’ve probably heard and the material is so heavy, I doubt you would have fun watching it under the influence.
Parker’s films have always featured strong editing and there’s an amazing scene just past the halfway point where the music reprises “Another Brick in the Wall”. This version is a touch faster and the images (many key moments from earlier in the film) build in intensity until the film cuts and there it is… The Wall. An impressively huge and endless mass of black bricks, it confronts you as if you didn’t realize the film was building to this moment. This barrier that keeps everyone else out and locks Pink in is yet another touchstone image.
Gerald Scafre brings down the house at the climax with “The Trial” and animated summation that throws everything back onto Pink, pointing out that he’s the only one capable of tearing down the wall. Parker gets the film back in his edit bay for the climactic chant of “Tear Down the Wall” featuring a blistering montage that dissolves into that wall, filling every inch of the frame. And it holds, and holds.
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