What is the movie "The Wall" about?

Roger has admited that the part about the rat was not symbolic, but that he actually found a dead rat when he was a child and tried to nurse it back to life.

It's about all the things that mount up and drive a rock star called Pink out of his mind...hence the bricks. each problem is represented by a brick. The bricks eventually form a wall which is symbolic of communication, a barrier if you like.

It's based on Rogers experiences and thoughts.

I once heard or read Roger explain that the Wall was intended by him to be an album first, then a stage show performed lived, then a movie. If you watch carefully, you'll understand that the whole thing is a big "fantasy". I kinda look at it as a big "rock
and roll practical joke" played on the "idiot fans" of the US & abroad, who attend big arena rock shows without any connection with the artists they see. "What if a rock star went nuts and tried to duplicate Hitler's failed attempt at global domination?"
The rock stars' fans may well blindly support such a move. Even though it would ultimately fail due to obvious reasons of Judiciary
powers.

Keep in mind several phrases are repeated throughout the Wall. Such as "the show". The worms. The bleeding hearts & artists. "The trial" uses many "Floydian" terms from previous works such as "Throw away the key" (Brain Damage). "talked to
me more often than you did" (If, from Atom Heart Mother). "Why'd
he ever have to LEAVE ME? (Breathe--Dark Side) "In the end your
honor" (Us & Them). And the judge says: "But, MY FRIEND, you've
revealed your deepest fear" (My friend- from Waiting for the Worms) So, the Wall is a satirical, theatrical, musical fantasy, which tells a narrated story of a professional musician who's lost
touch with his fans and family, and who's pondering why he's even in the business anymore, since it's not as fulfilling as it once
was. As far as the ending goes, there really ISN'T one, as Roger
is still in the business. When he sings "If I had my way, I'd have
all of you shot" We all cheer. I rest my case.

I never thought it was that complicated. Sure, there's lots of symbolism going on in the film and a few mysterious things here and there. I always thought the film and story were pretty self-explanitory. Especially if you're familiar with the record before you see it.
From what I understand, the shaved eyebrows (like the cigarette burning in his hand) was inspired by the Syd 1974 visit to the "Wish You Were Here" sessions. He had shaved his eyebrows off.
I just figured stuff like that and the dead rat wasn't necessarily symbolic, but just things that had happened and inspired the story. Or the teacher reading "poems" from Pink's book and they're the lyrics to "Money". I thought it just symbolized that he grows up to be in Pink Floyd and eventually uses that lyric for a song. Just like Roger.

I am new to this forum (registered today) and I want to meet other fans who share my passion for Pink Floyd.

The wall is a phenomenal movie; in fact it is through it that I discovered Pink Floyd.

Sorry to write so lengthily but that movie is so inspiring to me!

The movie basically centers on an analysis of Politics (the impact of politics on people's lives).

The wall is any barrier (physical or psychological) which you put between yourself and the rest of the world - i.e. which prevents you from thinking further than it. In other words, when you are inside it you cannot think with an open mind.

The movie tries to depict how people in the world we live in have constructed many walls around themselves and their children - eg the "consumption" society (the part in the film where you see cars, buildings etc assembled as a wall), people being blinded by religion or fanaticism so that they let themselves be driven by politicians who are creating and taking advantage of this situation, the education system which destroys all originality (egg when he was writing poems and being scolded) and which moulds you into a stereotype pattern, a big emphasis is laid on war (again politics) and how this has destroyed the lives of many families and people. There is also his mother who overprotects him (maybe not paying much attention to his feelings though) and who builds a wall around him so that he is quite unarmed in front of the rest of the world and the song goes "she might let you sing but she won't let you fly" . "...Mother do you think she is good enough" again shows that parents are too overprotective and prevents their children from growing into independent and well informed persons.
The parts treating war deal with broken families, politicians, human suffering for a questionable cause, "the pain which lingers on" - altogether the atrocities of war.
Pink is a product of this society. Though being a rock star (money, fame) he is not happy because of what society made him to endure in his past and since that same society did not develop any framework to support him thereafter he falls into drugs, depression and this ruins his life. He loves his wife but is too depressed to show it to her - he prefers the isolation of the TV (a constricted box, another wall) and this shows another problem in society: lack of communication in the couple, people thinking just within the TV’s box and not further etc.
And what is more amazing in this society of ours is that it will judge individuals through the eyes of the very people who built the wall around them and hence trapped them - the school master, the mother etc.

In the end, the message is that the future lies in our children - the boy took a bottle containing a chemical substance used in making bombs and he throws it away, so here is the hope for humanity's future.

The movie is a revolutionary appeal to all of us - be original, think with an open mind, make this world a better place by not being "another brick in the wall."

Well said! The promise of republic lies within -- Ca Ira