I watched Pink Floyd's "The Wall"---it's still relevant isn't it?

[Bouncy Ball]

I watched it on DVD yesterday for the first time in many years. The first time I saw it, I kind of half paid attention to it, decided it was horribly depressing (despite the fact that I love the music off that album) and blew it off.

But this time I saw warnings against war, nationalism, fascism, totalitarianism, the loss of identity that comes with a corporate controlled society and a LOT of sexual issues with women Roger Waters must have had.

One thing though: I have never understood what he was trying to say with the final scene (SPOILER ALERT): little kids cleaning up an obvious bombing site in England (Ireland) where a milk truck has been blown up. They are carrying away rocks, cleaning up, then one child finds a bottle that was a Molotov cocktail and he takes the rag out of it, pours out the flammable chemicals, end of movie.

Anyone?

[andyhappy]

1. its crazy!

my wife has never seen so we rented it last year and it is spooky how current it is.

that animated scene with all the crosses up in the sky that turn into B-52 bombers...damn!

As far as the statement for the last scene...hell I dunno. Life goes on I guess. Maybe that the people most affected by war are families and kids; regular people getting on with their lives.

But then there is all the crazy shit with his issues with women ...my wife didn't dig that part so much!

[Bouncy Ball]

6. Yeah

and the Union Jack flag--parts of it fall away and the bottom part lengthens so it becomes a white cross then blood pours down it.

I couldn't believe how relevant it is to today. And how incredibly tragic that is. I take it Roger Waters' dad died in WWII?

[KurtNYC]

2. I'll take a stab

In a war saturated world, the instinct of a child is to stop it.

He dissassembles a weapon -- it is a visual metaphor for choosing peace.

[Bouncy Ball]

4. That was exactly what my first interpretation of it was.

I thought there had to be something to the fact that children were helping to clean up this obvious scene of violence.

Sad. :cry:

[mattclearing]

3. I like to think it is the defusing of a bomb.

A typical anti-war strategy is to use children and their deaths, or their incapacity to understand why war happens to show the greater reality, that war is wrong, and can and should be stopped.

This is one instance where children are used to show that innocence...the kid probably doesn't know what the thing is for, and pours it out accordingly.

I can't remember if the kid sniffs it. If the kid sniffs and decides that it's nasty, and then pours it out, then you have your answer right there.

edited for spelling

[Bouncy Ball]

5. Hmmm

I just saw it yesterday and I want to say he sniffs the rag and makes a face, then pours out the chemicals. Another little boy is standing nearby watching him, if I am remembering correctly.

The animated war scenes made me cry, especially when the song "Blue Skies" was playing. Ug.

[andyhappy]

7. mummy...theres an airplane in the sky...

Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bombs
Did you ever wonder
Why we had to run for shelter
When the promise of a brave new world
Unfurled beneath a clear blue sky

Oooooooo ooo ooooo oooh
Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bombs
The flames are all long gone
But the pain lingers on
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye
Goodbye

[Bouncy Ball]

8. I first heard that song when I was in the 10th grade

and it had been out for several years. It moved me to tears then, and it does now.

This is my favorite part:

Did you ever wonder
Why we had to run for shelter
When the promise of a brave new world
Unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?

[andyhappy]

10. makes me think of...

when Kerry said in one of the debates that, "We needed strong leadership to calm the waters of a troubled world."

...sigh.....what the fuck...

[obreaslan]

9. That's pretty much exactly what Waters said he was trying to convey....

The children, i.e. the future generations, cleaning up our mess. The child picks up the bottle, instead of seeing a weapon, he decides it's nasty and pours it out, dissarming the bomb so to speak.

It's meant to show that our children are our hope for the future.

[mattclearing]

11. Yeah, that sounds dead-on.

Waters is a very smart man. Too bad he's also a very bitter and self-obsessed man. They still have a monster reunion tour to put on that he is preventing.

[Bouncy Ball]

12. Really?

Man. That's too bad.

[fluffernutter]

13. that's exactly how i took the ending as well.

Bouncy, you made me want to check that movie out again. were you bummed out afterward though?

[Bouncy Ball]

14. Heh

No, I was afraid watching it would make me even MORE depressed and bitter than I already feel (bushco etc) but actually it didn't. It made for a lot of food for thought and it's a pretty easy movie to watch since there isn't a lot of dialogue. It's almost like a very long music video. I fast forwarded through his whole tearing up of his hotel room while the American groupie was in there because I've seen it before and it's just him tearing shit up for about ten minutes.

I found it really thought-provoking and the animated war scenes very sad, but I was glad I re-watched it.

[fluffernutter]

15. thanks. i think i will watch it then.

i was afraid of the same thing, because i know i have had to pace myself lately with stuff like that because i have noticed that it really brings me down and makes me feel like shit. which, of course, is never a good thing for you nor the people you relate to every day ;)