PINK FLOYD THE WALL: The Search For Your Inner Child
Special One Night Screening In Detroit

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DETROIT - The seminal prog group Pink Floyd created an epic film in 1982 using a combination of animation, sound, and puppetry. Pink Floyd The Wall is considered one of the most unique films of its kind. Throughout its creation and theatrical release, it has, in essence, created its own genre. Much has been written about the Pink Floyd album as well as the film. The 1982 film, directed by Alan Parker, takes on a different narrative that was not explored on the album.

We caught a special one-night screening of the film at the Redford Theater in Detroit. The movie was well attended by film fanatics and fans of Pink Floyd. They had a great t-shirt maker in the lobby who had custom designs for the film. The Wall is rarely shown on a big theater screen so this was truly a great event. 

The story centers on a rock star named Pink. He is in a hotel room and has taken a lot of drugs and is reliving all of the horrific things in his life. This goes back to his childhood, losing his father in WWII, and a series of bad relationships. This descent into the mind unleashes memories and bizarre, violent fantasies. Pink has to figure out if he wants to keep these collective thoughts or obliterate them. The wall is a metaphor for his self imposed isolation from the rest of the world. Each traumatic event in his life creates a brick in this metaphorical wall. It extends from his earliest memories of his mother to his school teachers and the raving fans.

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Is There Anybody In There?

Throughout the film, there are dream sequences of fascism, war, rape, race hate, violence, and madness. This is where the album experience ends for most people. The film takes the narrative one step further and introduces an inner child component.

Throughout the film, the young Pink (played by Kevin McKeon) visits his older present-day self. In the film story, there are four important scenes that create a young life. The first we see him in a bassinet in the garden with his mother and hear him crying. They are alone in the world after Pink's dad died in a horrific bomb explosion in the Anzio bridgehead during WWII. 

Pink and his mother attend church and pray in the empty pews. It is an eerie scene mixed together with the song "Another Brick In The Wall". There are British Union Jack flags hanging in the church to show encouragement and national pride. It is a dark time of war, death and the first bricks of isolation are laid out.

Another scene shows him as a child alone in the playground. He longs to be part of a family and watches the other boys and fathers play. A kindly man helps Pink down on a slide. The father and son walk off and Pink tries to tag along by grabbing the man's coat only to be pushed away. 

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Pink's school days are filled with fear and dread from an overbearing teacher. He ridicules Pink's poetry (the lyrics for Pink Floyd's Money) and is physically abusive. This leads to a fantasy sequence where the kids revolt and burn the school down. It is a visual feast for the eyes and brings the album to life.

Pink grows up and is in a rock band. He grows in fame and popularity and in the midst of that he hides from his own fans. He hides out in trailers and hotel rooms behind a pair of sunglasses. When he is completely out of his mind and presumably passed out he has a vision. Pink has transformed his surroundings of a trashed hotel room into the middle of an open field. His chair, lamp, and television are in the middle of a barren field with hazy skies. There are bare, empty trees on this field that are tangled up with barbed wire and giant hammers. The large hammers foreshadow the fascist symbols that are to come near the end of the film.

Young Pink walks onto the field and meets his present-day self. No words are exchanged but the boy is very concerned about himself as an adult. He places his hand on the TV and attempts to get his attention. Older Pink doesn't acknowledge his inner child presence and is too self-absorbed to pay attention. This type of interaction would not be possible to portray on the album experience. This story narration can only be told through a visual medium. 

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Interestingly enough this narrative was never mentioned in the album format or in any other telling of the story of The Wall. You won't find it in Roger Waters The Wall, or The Wall Live In Berlin. This particular narrative becomes more important in the context of time. It is a most intricate and introspective point of view that is not revisited in other Pink Floyd presentations. Yet, this is an essential part of the story. 

True healing must occur if Pink will ever regain a healthy mind. It would have to involve forgiveness, peace, understanding, and the acceptance of love. The small inner voice of Pink's youth symbolizes the type of love he once had for this world. Over the course of time, the kindness, and love that only youth can bring has been slowly etched away. 

Bridging The Past

A connection cannot be made and there are no upsides to the plot in this regard. Pink does acknowledge his youth during the song "Comfortably Numb" and it is here where he sees flashbacks of the people who did him wrong. This includes his mother, his teacher, and soldiers from the war. The hover over his chair and look down upon him. His father as a soldier holding the dead rat in this sequence is of high interest. 

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As a youth Pink pulls a rat out of the field and takes him home. His mother makes him take it outside. Pink makes a bed for the rat out of a box and hay and keeps him in the shed. It is unclear at first why he does this. Perhaps it is because he wants to be a father figure to something living to heal his broken heart. This is something a child of good consciousness would do. Upon returning to the shed Pink finds that the rat is dead. He ends up throwing the dead rat into the river.

The soldier holding the dead rat in front of the older Pink's face is important during the dream sequence. This could be taken as a non-verbal cue to give up on life. It is a symbol perhaps that doing anything of good conscious is a wasted effort. The negative and mature world has an answer for the inner child's good deeds. The good works were in vain.

This brief but important emotional blow is central for Pink Floyd The Wall on film. From here the film only gets darker and more perverse. It descends into a dream sequence about fascism, street violence, and the dark side of fame.

When Pink Floyd The Wall first opened theatrically this image of the young self and modern-day self was the central focus. This popped up in all of the publicity shots including the weekend film report in the Connecticut Post newspaper. The Wall is an important film in the fact that no other movie has really touched upon this theme so dramatically. There is a calling here to connect all the dots from a young person's experience to adulthood. It is through this holistic approach that any type of reasoning can begin to take place.

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