The Wall

This is a film that has left such an impression on me that I was very curious what other viewers interpretations of it were. I felt the beauty and despair of loneliness. The connection humans can have with nature and above all... animals, our need for them not only to fill our void socially and emotionally, but as creatures to sustain our life in all ways. Even if to give us a purpose.

The irony that she was there on a hunting trip with friend that she obviously was not partaking in, but had probably not thought much about . I appreciated that she really understood that hunting should only be for food and could not understand how any being could take pleasure out of death of an animal.

The vivid beauty of Austria was captivating. This is a beautiful film that I will never quite forget. It has reminded me of how strong humans can be when they have to be to survive, how fragile we are, and how our brains have the capability to adapt to situations that are unexplainable when all feels hopeless.

I came here after viewing this very odd film and I expected to read an equal amount of bad and good reviews and I wasn't incorrect. I'm sort of in the middle. This is most assuredly not a film for everyone. It has to be classified as science fiction, but it rarely feels like one. A woman goes to spend a weekend in a isolated cabin and is kept captive by some sort of invisible wall or force field of some sort. Rather than sci-fi, this plays like some sort of cerebral meditation on the joys and pain of loneliness, mostly the latter. This film also involves numerous animals and the trapped character's connection with them. Some of this aspect is touching, but some of it is difficult to watch, especially one scene. This is no doubt slow as some have been critical of, but I found quite a bit of it sort of intriguing. It is a one woman show starring the acclaimed German actress, Martina Gedeck. There were a few things that annoyed me, primarily a couple of things not explored, but overall this is an interesting film for the serious minded viewer.

While browsing on IMDb for interesting scifi flicks to watch I stumbled upon this Austrian science fiction film. A scifi concept movie I should say: there are no lasers or spaceships or any other hi-tech stuff to be seen. A woman (her name is never mentioned) goes on weekend in a mountain cabin with and elderly couple. The couple leaves to take a walk but never returns. Reason: the Wall or 'Die Wand', an energy forcefield which keeps everything from going out or coming in. This leaves this woman completely cut off from civilization, society and basically everything she knows and loved. Obviously this is what this film is about. It's not about explaining why this wall is there or who built it or for what reason. It's about the mental, emotional and ethical problems that arise when there is no more society to live, work and function in. This film was apparently based on a successful 1963 Austrian novel. The whole film is told via the voice-over of the woman (she never has any direct dialogue) and all the acting is delivered through expressions or actions. This was smart on the part of the filmmakers coz it works well and it feels a lot like a book. Although the film lasts only 103 mins it does have a slow pace, but like a book you have to take time to see it at the pace it's intended to. Recommended!

THE WALL is an interesting--though people who want a really tangible storyline and/or fast action and suspense might choose the word "boring"--little film.

How to describe it? Quiet, somber, original, going deep without trying too hard. Fantastic in the most literal sense. Well-acted and well-filmed: The Austrian Alpine scenery, perhaps the single best thing about THE WALL, is just spectacular. Still, there are a number of plot-holes and incomplete threads, things that don't add up and are not apparently supposed to--"Kafkaesque" is another word that kept running through my mind as I watched.

Though it's nothing great, I'm happy to have seen THE WALL and, most of all, am eager to read the original novel by Marlen Haushofer, which, even if it doesn't make completely logical sense, based on the reviews, apparently has more sense of completion.

Hard to write this without spoilers, but here goes...

The Wall is not sci-fi, and it's not what a lot of other reviewers seem to think either. It's not a bad film at all.

Deliberately set in a beautiful but challenging place - the place the central character inhabits, The Wall could be about any boundary between ourselves and the outside world. It's very solitary, very existential, very personal. I rather liked this: an inner journey.

Superbly photographed, The Wall is worth watching just for this.

Speaking personally, to me it's obvious what the sub-text is. I won't name it, but the symbolism is clear: a white crow, two animals giving birth, a single mature woman alone, a companion who can be no more than that. There are other more subtle symbols too.

At root, The Wall is an exploration of extreme isolation, and a realisation of what that really means.