The Wall

So I watched the movie of The Wall last night. At least now that I know the music and the story well, it made a certain amount of sense. Last time, several years ago, it was just incoherent. Now, at least, I know why the war is at all relevant, the fact that this kid and this rock star really are the same person, and get the little in-jokes, like the mocked poem being the lyrics to ‘Money’. Despite how I love the album, though, the film is pretty dreadful. It’s so slow and self-indulgent, and doesn’t tell the story well at all. It’s an overlong music video that doesn’t include nearly enough of the music. Geldof actually does well with a limited part, and in fact looks very convincing both as jaded rock star and as unhinged neo-Nazi. The animations remain very impressive, clever and disturbing little bits of psychedelia, though the gratuitous gore comes across as rather juvenile instead of shocking.

And while I know it was Roger Waters’ baby, and he knows the story better than anyone else could, I question why he took ‘In the Flesh’, which lyrically is clearly about a rock star going to one of his concerts, mad and drugged up by doctors so that he can at least perform, and instead of giving them music, rants at them about being a surrogate band and then starts spouting a right-wing obloquy. That just works so much better than it actually being a neo-Nazi rally, where the audience are EXPECTING such a tirade. Oh well. In the end, despite the music, it was a chore to watch. I shaln’t bother again any time soon.