Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The first brick of The Wall was set in place over 72 years ago on February 18, 1944, the day British Army Second Lieutenant Eric Fletcher Waters was deemed “missing in action, presumed dead” during the Battle of Anzio in Aprilia, Italy in World War II. Ever since then, his son, Roger Waters, has attempted to come to grips with that loss and the ensuing ripple effects of the spoils of war in both his lyrics and music, best realized in Pink Floyd’s 1979 magnum opus, The Wall. Waters later took The Wall Live on the road in 2010–13 for 219 performances as a fully realized audio/visual extravaganza, and I can personally confirm it as being the bestlooking and best-sounding stadium concert I’ve ever attended.

Now we get the majestic scope of The Wall as presented in a combo documentary/concert film, with co-director Sean Evans’ ever-sympathetic lens chronicling Waters’ first ever pilgrimages to both his father’s and grandfather’s gravesites, interspersed with lively concert footage shot in Athens, Buenos Aires, and Quebec.

The 2.40:1 image properly conveys the sheer massiveness, breadth, and height of the wall that gets built onstage throughout the course of the concert, and it also serves as a projection surface for scores of vibrant animation sequences, multiple live angles of the band playing, and other supplemental footage. The palette for the concert segments skews mostly magenta and deep black, in terms of the tones and shadows seen on and around both performers and audience members. You’ll also discern the scaly textures evident on Waters’ shiny black leather duster during closeups, and catch the tears that well under his eyes after he reads a handwritten letter confirming his father’s death.

Those with Dolby Atmos are in for experiencing a soundtrack reminiscent of an all-out war, especially near the outset of the film when a vintage WWII bomber plane begins its fateful flight in the rear channels, then roars directly overhead before (spoiler alert!) literally crashing into the front stage—and not just in the front stage speakers, mind you, but also into the stage the band is performing on. The subwoofer channel will also get a workout when multiple explosions and rapid-fire machine-gun spray erupt repeatedly during Waters’ “In the Flesh” fascist-ranting sneerfest.

As for the music, producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck) took the original live quad mixes and turned them into a fully enveloping surround sound experience that, to borrow a phrase, is live’r than you. The show-stopping “Comfortably Numb” is the high-water mark of the mix, with a stagebound Waters trading lead vocals with Robbie Wycoff mainly in the front speakers, while Dave Kilminster’s pair of cleansing, elegiac guitar solo sections—performed 40 feet in the air on a platform centered atop the gigantic wall—flows into all channels, appropriately swelling in volume at the song’s always affecting apex.

A second disc consisting of extras includes Waters performing two songs at the O2 Arena in London on May 12, 2011 with his former Floydmates guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, but, curiously, the audio mix for both songs—“Comfortably Numb” and “Outside the Wall”—is only available in Dolby Digital 2.0.

Even so, Waters fulfills his lifelong quest within and beyond The Wall, creating a benchmark A/V footprint in the process. Is there anybody out there who shouldn’t run like hell to get their hands on this two-disc set ASAP?

Blu-ray
Studio: Universal, 2015
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio Format: Dolby Atmos/True HD 5.1
Length: 143 mins.
MPAA Rating: R
Directors: Sean Evans, Roger Waters
Starring: Roger Waters, Willa Rawlinson, Peter Medak, Chris Kansy