--- title: "Pink Floyd: The Wall" year: 1982 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/pink-floyd-the-wall" fi1m_id: "pink-floyd-the-wall" imdb_id: "tt0084503" tmdb_id: 12104 wikidata_id: "Q213683" fi1m_score: 69 critics_score: 59 critics_reviews: 5 published: "2026-10-04T18:05:43.678084+00:00" updated: "2026-10-04T18:06:02.283077+00:00" region: "PT" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982) Directed by Alan Parker · 1h 35m · IGAC M/18 · Music, Drama ## Identity Pink Floyd: The Wall - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/pink-floyd-the-wall - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** pink-floyd-the-wall - **IMDb ID:** tt0084503 - **TMDB ID:** 12104 - **Wikidata ID:** Q213683 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084503/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12104, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q213683 **Fi1m score: 69** · Critics 59 (early) from 5 reviews *In a sentence:* The school conveyor belt makes its point before anyone has time to put a hand up > Alan Parker gives *Pink Floyd: The Wall* forceful images and a chilling centre in Bob Geldof. The music holds it together, but the repeated insistence on Pink’s suffering makes this a wearing film with too little human detail. ## Synopsis Pink (Bob Geldof) moves through memories of childhood, where Young Pink (Kevin McKeon) faces a world of parents and teachers. Pink’s Mother (Christine Hargreaves), Pink’s Father (James Laurenson) and Pink’s Wife (Eleanor David) populate his personal history. The school years bring a Teacher (Alex McAvoy) and images of children on a conveyor belt; the adult world includes a Rock and Roll Manager (Bob Hoskins). Music and surreal animation carry the story, with little dialogue between the songs and images of Pink’s family, schooling and adult life. ## Review Alan Parker’s *Pink Floyd: The Wall* is a forceful musical drama that becomes wearing because it keeps pressing points we have already understood. There is enough here to reward an interest in music-led storytelling, provided there is some patience for its punishing insistence. Roger Waters writes the screenplay and supplies the music, and the film allows songs and images to carry much of the work usually done by conversation. It makes a serious attempt to show how memory can take over a life. Bob Geldof gives Pink a coldness that is more troubling than a broadly demonstrative performance would have been. He makes the character’s withdrawal convincing without making him easy company, and that reserve usefully checks the film’s appetite for enormous visual statements. But the screenplay does not give us enough to distinguish the man from the distress he represents. Bob Geldof holds our attention through stretches in which Pink himself remains frustratingly difficult to know. Peter Biziou’s photography does much of the explaining that the dialogue leaves out. The images have a clarity that lets us register their emotional purpose quickly, even when the connections between them are less secure. Brian Morris’s production design helps give the school imagery its oppressive force, making institutional life look capable of swallowing a child whole. The schoolchildren on the conveyor belt are an effective example, although the idea hardly needs underlining. We were unsettled by those children on the conveyor belt. The image reduces education to processing bodies, and its bluntness gets to us before there is time to object to the bluntness. The surreal animation gives the film room to push that kind of exaggeration further, without having to make every image obey physical rules. It also makes the repeated insistence on suffering tiring: there is little chance to sit with one disturbing thought before another demands attention. Roger Waters’s music gives these passages a continuity that the story often struggles to provide. The songs can sustain an emotion for longer than a single image, and they give the film a reason to keep moving when Pink’s misery starts to feel repetitive. Gerry Hambling’s editing is alert to that musical movement, keeping the pictures responsive to what we hear. It is less successful at creating pauses, so the film’s 95 minutes can feel longer than their running time suggests. Roger Waters’s screenplay is least persuasive when it asks a forceful symbol to account for an entire human problem. The school sequence tells us what it thinks about conformity almost immediately; further emphasis adds little. The film tells us how badly Pink has been hurt often enough that we begin to want a better sense of what else he might be like. Bob Geldof cannot supply all of that on his own, however much we value the severity of his performance. As a music film, it takes risks that a straightforward performance film would never have to consider. Alan Parker trusts the combination of songs, photography and animation to hold us, and enough of it works to justify that trust. The reservations matter, especially if the music itself does not already have a hold on you. Try it for the images and Bob Geldof, but allow for a musical drama that seldom knows when to ease off. *Fi1m score 69, published 4 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Pink Floyd: The Wall worth watching?** *Pink Floyd: The Wall* is worth considering for its forceful images, Bob Geldof’s chilling performance and music-led storytelling; we score it 69 out of 100. The songs hold it together, but its repeated emphasis on Pink’s suffering becomes wearing, so we recommend it chiefly to those already drawn to the music or the form. **How long is Pink Floyd: The Wall, and what is it rated?** *Pink Floyd: The Wall* runs 1h 35m and is rated M/18 by the IGAC in Portugal. It is a music and drama film. **Where can I watch Pink Floyd: The Wall in Portugal?** *Pink Floyd: The Wall* is not on any streaming or rental service in Portugal at the moment. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Pink Floyd: The Wall, and is it suitable for children?** *Pink Floyd: The Wall* has a UK 15 certificate and is not suitable for children under 15; its oppressive school imagery and repeated emphasis on suffering also make it a demanding watch for older teenagers. We find the children on a conveyor belt unsettling, and the surreal animation gives disturbing ideas little breathing space. **How does Pink Floyd: The Wall compare to The Red Shoes?** *Pink Floyd: The Wall* is the more narrowly recommendable choice beside [*The Red Shoes*](https://film.one/film/the-red-shoes), which we recommend more broadly for making a dancer’s ambition feel urgent, seductive and dangerous. Both use music and forceful images, but Pink’s suffering becomes repetitive and leaves him difficult to know; the reservation with *The Red Shoes* is dialogue that occasionally takes itself too seriously. **What should I watch after Pink Floyd: The Wall?** After *Pink Floyd: The Wall*, try [*The Red Shoes*](https://film.one/film/the-red-shoes) (1948, Fi1m 92): For music, obsessive ambition and colour that makes ordinary life seem inadequate. Then [*All That Jazz*](https://film.one/film/all-that-jazz) (1979, Fi1m 84): A performer’s private collapse becomes a musical with a sharper human focus; and [*Daisies*](https://film.one/film/daisies) (1966, Fi1m 85): For surreal rebellion against obedience, with considerably more mischief and fewer solemn faces. ### Reviews we read (5) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (80/100, inferred): Variety finds the film an effective, visually striking translation of the album’s somber tone. It particularly praises Gerald Scarfe’s animation and Peter Biziou’s photography for telling the story with little need for dialogue. [Read](https://variety.com/1981/film/reviews/pink-floyd-the-wall-1200425142/) - **The Guardian**, Derek Malcolm (65/100, inferred): Malcolm finds the film inflated and uneven, but ultimately impressive and a considerable achievement. He especially praises Parker’s visual synthesis with the music, while noting that the film’s brilliance does not always match its depth. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jul/15/pink-floyd-the-wall-film-review-1982) - **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. Its praise or complaints are likewise unavailable. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/06/movies/images-flood-pink-floyd-the-wall.html) - **Time Out**, PT (53/100, inferred): The available excerpt suggests a doubtful verdict, but the full assessment is unavailable. It singles out the conveyor-belt schoolchildren imagery, though the excerpt is truncated. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/pink-floyd-the-wall) - **Empire**, Neil Jeffries (35/100, inferred): The review finds the film attention-grabbing but ultimately unclear about what it wants to say. It singles out Gerald Scarfe’s surreal animation and Bob Geldof’s chilling performance, while criticizing the bewildering presentation. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/pink-floyd-wall-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Alan Parker - **Director:** Alan Parker - **Screenplay:** Roger Waters - **Cinematography:** Peter Biziou - **Editor:** Gerry Hambling - **Music:** Roger Waters - **Production design:** Brian Morris - **Costume design:** Penny Rose - **Producer:** Alan Marshall - **Cast:** Bob Geldof as Pink; Christine Hargreaves as Pink's Mother; James Laurenson as Pink's Father; Eleanor David as Pink's Wife; Kevin McKeon as Young Pink; Bob Hoskins as Rock and Roll Manager; David Bingham as Little Pink; Jenny Wright as American Groupie - **Runtime:** 1h 35m - **Certificate (IGAC):** M/18 - **Release (Portugal):** 22 October 1982 - **Genres:** Music, Drama - **Budget:** $12 million - **Box office:** $22 million ## Where to watch in Portugal Not streaming, renting or buying in Portugal at the last check. ## If you liked this - *Tommy* (1975): Another rock opera that turns personal damage into deliberately excessive images. - *The Red Shoes* (1948), Fi1m 92: For music, obsessive ambition and colour that makes ordinary life seem inadequate. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-red-shoes.md) - *All That Jazz* (1979), Fi1m 84: A performer’s private collapse becomes a musical with a sharper human focus. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/all-that-jazz.md) - *Daisies* (1966), Fi1m 85: For surreal rebellion against obedience, with considerably more mischief and fewer solemn faces. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/daisies.md) - *Mind Game* (2004): Animation runs loose through fear, desire and the business of staying alive. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/pink-floyd-the-wall