Roger Waters, the co-founder of rock band Pink Floyd attended the world premiere of his documentary Roger Waters: The Wall at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Saturday.
According to the legendary musician, the movie about their three-year remounting of the band’s famous album The Wall should not be viewed as a concert documentary but rather as a protest against the growing armed conflicts in the world today.
The iconic rockstar has been known for his advocacy against war and capitalism throughout his entire career both as a solo artist and as a band member.
Roger Waters: The Wall, which had its world premiere on Saturday at TIFF, documents the massive concerts that included pyrotechnics, animation, a flying inflatable pig and an actual wall constructed on stage as the show progressed.
The documentary features extensive footage from his The Wall world tour which showcased all 26 songs from his group’s massively successful 1979 concept double album titled The Wall.
The movie also includes vignettes of Waters visiting war cemeteries and memorials in different parts Europe, including the grave of his grandfather who died during World War I, and the site of the 1944 battle that killed his father when Waters was just a baby.
The concert itself featured projections on its set of veterans, activists and average people who died in wars, protests and attacks on civilians.
A core theme of the original album, according to Waters, is the need to challenge politicians and the status quo as they are more than willing to resort to the use of violence to resolve matters.
According to the Toronto Sun when questioned by a member of the crowd as to why the album was so enduring the musician answered, "I think people are sick and tired of being told that the most important thing in their life is commerce and the new this and the new that," the musician answered.
Waters said he had welcomed the opportunity to spread the album's message that politicians and citizens must work to overcome the divisions fueling wars we see today.
"It's very easy for people to say ... that will never happen, because they are this, and they are that. And you can't talk to them," he told Reuters.
The screening of the film had been packed with fans and upon completion of the documentary it received a rousing standing ovation followed by audience members singing an impromptu Happy Birthday for Waters, who had turned 71 on Saturday.
The 1979 double album has a unique Canadian link to it as the concept of the album came to Waters after he had an unfriendly encounter with a disruptive fan during their 1977 concert in Montreal. Appalled by his treatment of the fan, Waters was inspired to come up with a record based on his desire to draw a metaphorical wall between himself and the rest of the world.
The two-hour-and-13 minute long documentary is still in search of a distributor, with no release date being announced yet. Two additional screenings of the film are scheduled to take place in Toronto after the conclusion of TIFF.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2014.
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