seen 29 September 2015
The film, created and directed by Roger Waters and Sean Evans, is a documentary blending footage of The Wall tour (2010-2013) with Waters' ruminations while journeying to see the grave of his grandfather (killed on the Somme in 1916) and the cemetery memorial to his father (killed at Anzio in 1945).
'The Wall' - a Pink Floyd concept album from 1979 - had already spawned a movie directed by Alan Parker, and a series of tours. I've not seen the movie nor have I attended a tour performance. I have not even heard the entire album - I only have memories of marching hammers accompanying the single 'Brick in the Wall' when it was originally played on BBC's 'Top of the Pops', that jingle-like refrain 'we don't need no edyoucayshun' reverberating in the memory.
Consequently, I found narrative of the concept completely swamped by the technical wizardry of the shows, and further obscured by the intercut sequences of Waters travelling through Europe. Those for whom 'The Wall' is or was a defining expression of their own alienation will presumably be unworried by this confusion, since they can readily supply the whole structure from their memories, and the sequences from the concert will make perfect sense. To a newcomer, the transitions from bolshie schoolkid with cruel teacher and overbearing mother to crypto-fascist rock star to rag-doll accused in a nightmare trial were barely coherent, and their relation to a lost father figure not at all obvious.
