Pink Floyd is an English rock band formed during 1965 in London. Their music revolves around psychedelic pop, experimental rock, art rock and progressive rock. They were known for trying out different techniques, unique live shows and their philosophical take on their lyrical contents.
In the 1982 musical film “Pink Floyd – The Wall,” it shows us the story about how a rock’n’roll superstar undergoes a difficult mental breakdown from time to time. Chaos and destruction have been the main standpoint of the film. Every single scene packs a punch that shows how hard it is to suffer from a mental breakdown due to severe usage of psychedelic drugs.
SPOILER ALERT!
It starts off in a hotel where Pink (Bob Geldof) sits in front of a television screen mindlessly looking at it. Visions of war and abuse was then flashed in the screen. It somehow looked like the man is having an episode of his PTSD. It then shifted into a playground full of kids running around and having fun. As tragic as it seems, death just keep on creeping in Pink’s life. He saw his mother catching for her breath and having the fact that his father died during the war.
Pink then fell in love with his childhood sweetheart and then got married. However, things didn’t go well due to certain reasons. His wife cheated on him and things got worse. He went from different phases just like the moon, except most of it is dark. He started to have hallucinations that got the better of him.
In the film, we could see cartoon animations that portrays different issues that has been present before up to today. Violence, war, sex and drugs has been represented creatively through different symbols using animation. Though it may not seem as vivid, the message that it carries is straightforward.
The film then goes back to the very beginning where Pink is floating in the hotel’s pool with bloods on his hand. This means that everything that we saw in the film happened in the head of our main character. These hallucinations made him believe that there’s a wall that separates him from reality. This wall was shattered later on that marks a new start for our guy.
The direction of Alan Parker and Gerald Scarfe is a chaotic take on an already chaotic story that shows darkness. It is hard to describe since the film portrays a lot of scenarios that’s happening simultaneously. Through the help of animation and creative visualizations, it was eased up for a bit.
There’s this scene that somehow sat on my head. It was the time where students were lining up and entering a chamber. After passing through the chamber, they all wore masks that shows an abstract of a human face. Waiting for them at the end of the conveyor belt is a giant meat grinder where students were being dropped off. This could possibly mean that the education system is producing robot-like individuals that are easily influence by ideals by those who are sitting in the powerful chairs.
“Pink Floyd – The Wall,” is a film that is not for those who gets bored if nothing flashy happens on screen. It is a chaotic take on an extremely sensitive topic. Mental health is clearly present in the movie and Pink showed how an unhealthy one can destroy a person. This film is a masterpiece, a masterpiece that not everyone can appreciate.
RATING: 8.5/10
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