Posted by Joseph Vincent Mach on December 07, 1998 at 05:38:42: An old Chinese curse states “May you live in interesting times.” It is a curse because the times that are interesting one’s life are the times of danger and suffering. Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film titled Stalker is almost a perfect illustration of people inflicted with this curse. The people in the film leave the safety of their world to enter “The Zone”; a dangerous region surrounded by barbed wire fences and armed guards. In “The Zone” is a “Room” said to grant one’s wishes. Tarkovsky stated in 1982 “We’ve reached a time when we must declare open warfare on mediocrity, greyness and lack of expressiveness, and make creative inquiry a rule of cinema.”(Petrie, p190) Tarkovsky’s film is not easily classified as Drama, Action, or Science Fiction. It contains elements of all three but seems to remain distinctly different from each one. In this three-hour film, he keeps the viewer waiting at the edge of their seat, interested in the film and waiting for the climax, but without the predictability of a Science Fiction, Action or Drama film. Stalker is based on a science fiction novel called Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. However, the film takes many liberties and is a giant leap away from the text. In the book, the reason for entering “The Zone” is for scientific analysis, but the film shifts the motive to the quest for “The Room” and the spiritual inner journey to discover the secret desire that “The Room” will grant. Tarkovsky states “The Zone is not a territory, but on the contrary, a trial, which one either passes or fails. Everything depends on self-dignity, on how far one is able to distinguish between the important and the transitory.”(Petrie, pp. 195-6) Also, Tarkovsky uses colour to distinguish between the drab world and the interesting “Zone”. In the dull outer world, Tarkovsky films in black and white, but tints the picture with sepia to separate similar tone greys into different browns. This allows a complete view of the area in the film frame without the distractions of vivid colour or the confusion of black and white. In the movie, Three people enter “The Zone”: Writer, a well known but burned out has been who is searching for inspiration. Professor, a physicist who is hoping to gain fame and riches by discovering the mysteries of “The Zone”. And Stalker, one of a few stalkers or guides who bring selected people into “The Zone”. There is great mystery and fear surrounding “The Zone”. Rumours restated in the film are that a meteorite fell on the area, a small town that contained a laboratory or military station called Bunker Number Four, also known as “The Room”. “The Zone” is often compared to the Bermuda Triangle as a mysterious spot where people enter and disappear. “The Zone” is fenced off with barbed wire and armed solders. It is unclear if this is to prevent people from entering “The Zone” and why they would want to prevent it, or if it is to prevent something, an alien being or alien ideas, from entering the civilized world. Tarkovsky pins scientific observation against superstitious belief so that depending on the frame of mind of the viewer, one could view two different stories in the same film. One could view the film rationally, explaining away “The Zone” as a nuclear accident like Chernobyl, not a large explosion that destroys the landscape, but a leak that wipes out almost every animal and leaves the vegetation to grow over the man made objects and dwellings. This could explain the death and disappearances of people, as well as the birth defects found in the children of stalker’s and why the Stalker tires easily and needs to frequently rest on the journey to “The Room”. One could also view the film as a pseudo-religious quest. One could state that the reason Stalker can enter and exit “The Zone” is because he is pure, has good intentions, or is free from sin. One must be both cautious and righteous to pass through and have the wish, the innermost desire granted. Where a rational mind would see the Stalker as an Indiana Jones type person looking for adventure, the Romantic would view him as the Biblical Persebal questing for a holy relic like the Grail. The Stalker poetry and stories are like the Oracle of the ancient Greeks. The viewer needs to interpret the Stalkers words, as the priests needed to decipher the Oracles predictions. And his frequent rests are to be in touch with the Earth, because as a guide he must be one with the land. One can easily classify the three characters within this framework. The Stalker is a true believer in the powers of “The Zone”. He is almost militant that his chosen followers are, and remain pure. He takes away the writer’s alcohol and pours it out when they are standing in the field and removes his gun and pushes it into the water, a symbol of baptismal cleansing, when they are approaching “The Room”. The Professor is a man of science and is therefore a pragmatic disbeliever. He brings a bag with his lunch along the journey where Stalker seems to be religiously fasting. And the Writer is an ambiguous agnostic. He claims that Stalker’s superstitions are a hoax, but is afraid to disobey Stalker’s orders. He is too afraid to go the strait path to “The Room” and ends up turning back and following Stalker. To explain any of these concepts further one would need a synopsis of Stalker. I will try to explain it through direct scientific observation, but I will also include the spiritual and mystic connotations of the film. The film starts with electronic music. The title and credits appear over sepia tinted black and white footage of a dingy bar. The title itself is striking. “Stalker” is not a Russian word. It produces feelings of alienation in the viewer. Its definition in English is brings the sense of one who moves silently, with stealth and speed. After the title and credits a quotation from Professor Wallace about the appearance of “The Zone”. While the statement is scrolling, a bartender enters, serves a patron, and exits. The next shot has the camera silently creeps through an open doorway onto a brass bed. A trinity of figures, a man, woman, and child are sleeping. A train passes causing a glass of water to move across a table containing a box of pills. The appearance of the room seems to be one of poverty and misery. The man slithers out of bed, dresses, and quietly leaves the bedroom almost closing the door on his way out. As he leaves the woman sits up in the bed. He washes himself with primitive haste in a kitchen with wooden floors. A light turns on, but burns out breaking the bulb. The wife pleads that he stop and reminds that he could end up in jail for ten years. He pushes past her and leaves as she states that he is the reason that they have “Such a child”. His client soon identifies the man as Stalker as they meet in a dockyard. The client is an arrogant intellectual in the company of an elegantly dressed woman and is telling her how dull contemporary life is without suffering. When asked if the woman can come along on the journey, Stalker, who did not expect her, orders her to leave and becomes disgusted that the client has been drinking. Stalker and the man enter the bar from the title sequence and meet the customer. As they follow in a conversation, the Stalker again forbids the first man, Writer, to drink and addresses the second man as Professor. The Writer presents himself as cynical in his own ability to continue writing. The Professor states that his motive is scientific curiosity. The Writer replies with the motive of inspiration. A train whistle is audible and Stalker states that it is time for them to go. They get into a topless jeep and drive through trash filled streets and run-down buildings avoiding an armed policeman by stopping and ducking when he rides by. The follow the train as it passes through a gate into an inner and more heavily guarded barrier. They hide again to avoid detection. When Stalker pauses to plan the next move, Writer voices displeasure with the trek so far, but Professor remains quiet. They get into the jeep and follow behind another train to gain entrance past a large barbed wire gate. As they pass they come under fire from many armed troops. They soon find a railway flatcar and again come under fire as they trail off down the track. The troops do not follow them into “The Zone”. As they enter “The Zone” the film changes from sepia tones to rich colour. A body of water and vivid green vegetation are visible, but there are still remains of dilapidated buildings and industrial waste. In “The Zone”, Stalker tells a story about Porcupine. Porcupine was his teacher who also brought people into “The Zone” until something went wrong and he was “punished”. Stalker then asks Professor to tie some bandages around a few metal nuts and goes to take a walk. While Stalker is away, Professor tells Writer about their guide. He states that Stalker was imprisoned and has a mutated daughter with no legs. He tells about Porcupine and how after he became wealthy, he hung himself. The Professor also elaborates on the history of “The Zone” and how a meteorite could have fallen on the area twenty years ago and after it happened, strange things started to occur. Soon rumours began to spread of a room within “The Zone” that could grant one’s wishes, and a military blockade formed to prevent wicked people with hostile desires from wishing. The Writer then asks what could it be if not a meteorite. The Professor suggests a supernatural event when he replies that it could have been a gift or message to mankind. Stalker is briefly seen lying down with his face in the long grass. He gets up and returns to the expedition with the Professor going first and Stalker following throwing some of the bandaged nuts to leave a trail indicating the way that they came. Overgrown military vehicles litter the landscape and Stalker comments that a military expedition came here when he was a child. There is a clearly visible building that seems to be their destination across a short field. Writer disbelieves Stalkers warning that they cannot go directly to the building and they begin to argue. Stalker warns that “The Zone” is alive and demands respect. Failure to respect “The Zone” will result in punishment. Stalker takes Writer’s flask of alcohol and empties it onto the ground. Writer begins to directly cross the field to the building. Weird sounds start to be herd and a voice says “Stop, don’t move!” when Writer is about half way. Writer turns and heads back to the group. When he asks who said that, both Stalker and Professor claim it was not they. They begin to argue and Professor suggests that Writer became frightened and told himself to turn back. Stalker yells a warning that “The Zone” is a complex maze of fatal traps. It is the people and not “The Zone” that set the traps. People have had to turn back at various points along the way and people have died on “The Room’s” threshold. Writer asks if “The Zone” lets the good pass and the evil die, again suggesting a religious judgement. Stalker replies that he thinks it is the hopeless wretches that are allowed to pass, but even they die if they do not behave properly here. Stalker suggests that Writer is lucky to have received a warning from “The Zone”. Professor asks to wait behind while the others continue, but Stalker replies that the request is impossible because they will not return the same way they left and offers to abandon the mission and refund portions of the money. Professor reluctantly rejoins the party. The next scene begins with Stalker’s calling for the other two. Writer and Professor are seen standing in front of a doorway with dilapidated tiles on the walls. A metal nut on a bandage is seen hanging behind them and Professor’s bag is on the ground. Writer states that he thinks they are in for another lecture from Stalker. Stalker moves across a ledge while his thoughts can be heard in a voice over. He joins the two as they exit a large drainpipe. The voice asks that the other two believe, and that they become helpless children because weakness is great and strength is worthless. Weakness expresses freshness of existence and tenderness. Strength, he states, are like hardness and dryness. Strength is a companion of death and what becomes hard will not triumph. This statement recalls the biblical passage “the meek will inherit the Earth.” Professor asks to return to fetch his lunch bag. Stalker refuses to let him go as he sends Writer ahead down a latter. Writer and Stalker pass the tiled wall and through a few archways reaching a waterfall. They begin to wade in the water when Writer notices that Professor is missing, but Stalker says that they can not turn back and pushes ahead. The camera suddenly focuses on hot coals in a campfire. The camera pans across a tiled floor with a few inches of water on it. Under the water is medical waste and rusty metal trash along with a book, possibly a Bible. Writer exits the archway already seen twice only to be standing next to Professor calmly sitting and drinking from his thermos. The lunch bag is on the ground next to a fire and a bandaged nut is hanging behind them. Seeing the nut Stalker claims that they have fallen into a trap. Writer and Professor begin to insult each other. (It is this point in the film where I as the viewer lost faith in Stalker as a prophet, but not in “The Zone’s” power, mystery, and danger. Stalker is clearly going in circles, but he seems correct to be cautious of “The Zone” because of the strange music and unexplained sounds it still seems like a supernatural place. I think this is allegorical to the Russian Leo Tolstoy’s leaving the Orthodox Church to rediscover Christianity. I abandon the leader, but not the cause.) The conversation continues between Writer and Professor. The camera again examines some objects under the water. Biblical readings can be heard in voice over by Stalker and a woman, possibly Stalker’s wife. Electronic music amplifies the strangeness of the scene. There is now dialog between Writer and Stalker about art and redemption. There is a quick cut to a dark tunnel called the “Meat Grinder”. There are holes in the top that let light cast down onto murky water covering the bottom of the tunnel. Stalker has a drawing of matches to see if Writer or Professor goes first, but the matches are the same lengths and Writer is tricked into leading the party. Sounds of water dripping and echoing footsteps create suspense and tension in the already uneasy atmosphere of the small dark tunnel. Before Writer goes through he has Stalker toss a metal nut into the tunnel to make sure it is safe. Stalker follows behind Professor through the “Meat Grinder”. They reach a door at the end of the tunnel. The small room beyond is seriously flooded. Writer pulls out a gun, but Stalker takes it away asking Writer who or what he thinks he is going to shoot. Writer proceeds through the flooded room. There is a close up of Stalker’s hand slowly pushing the gun into the water with the tips of his fingers, as if not to get any of the gun’s bad karma on himself and thus causing “The Zone” to punish him. Professor and Stalker follow and Stalker calls Writer to wait. Writer is seen in a large room with what look like large sand dunes. Stalker throws another nut into the room and both he and Professor quickly lie down for cover. The nut seems to bounce off a dune where logic makes the viewer think that its weight should have made it stay where it landed. A bird flies through the room but disappears halfway. Another bird flies through the room but safely reaches the other side. Writer is now seen in the dunes standing next to what looks like a well. Writer drops a large rock into the well and starts a monologue about how meaningless and superfluous his life and work are. He speaks with both self-loathing and bitter honesty. He sees himself as a writer who hates to write and finds the work to be like torture. He states how he used to think that he wrote helpful books for people, but nobody bought them. Stalker comforts him by telling him that if “The Meat Grinder”, the harshest trap in “The Zone”, allowed him to pass then he must be a fine person. Stalker tells the story about how Porcupine sent his brother, a good and gifted individual, into the “Meat Grinder” to die. Stalker then begins to recite poetry about how nature’s beauty and living life to the fullest can not compensate for escaping one’s fate. (This sequence gives the viewer the feeling of solitary soul-searching that prophets like Buddha and Moses did when they wandered in the desert for a number of days and nights.) The men enter a room with trash and a thin layer of water on the floor. There is a window in a wall of the room and a doorway opposite the window. This room has a telephone on the floor. The men get into a serious discussion about their motives for going on this trek. The telephone suddenly rings. Writer answers it, stating that the caller has not reached the clinic and that the caller dialed the wrong number. Professor then uses the phone to call his lab. Professor gloats to his boss that the destination has been reached and the boss has been out smarted. Professor remarks to the group that people will misuse “The Room”. Stalker claims that he does not bring those kind of people into “The Zone”, but Professor replies that he is not the only stalker out there. Stalker points out the doorway and states that they have reached the most important decision in their lives. He urges them to rethink their pasts and believe in “The Room”. He asks who wants to go first? Writer refuses to go saying that sniveling and praying are humiliating. Professor announces that he intends to destroy the room with a bomb that he has brought with him. He explains that his boss at the lab hid the bomb because the room meant hope and did not want it to be destroyed by Professor. Professor states that “The Room” does not provide happiness and will only be used for evil intentions. Stalker leaps onto Professor for possession of the bomb. Writer pulls Stalker off of Professor. Stalker asks Writer what he is doing and why does he want Professor to destroy their hope. Writer calls Stalker a hypocrite who is only interested in money and power. He claims Stalker uses people’s hopelessness to feel like a god or a tsar here. Stalker beaks down into tears saying stalkers are not allowed to enter “The Room” or be selfish. He sobs that “The Zone” is all he has left because everything on the other side of the barbed wire was taken from him. Writer calls Stalker a “Holy Fool”, a blind believer. Then Writer offers his analyses for Porcupine’s suicide. Writer claims that “The Room” grants not a rational wish where the consequences can be planned out, controlled, and minimized, but that is searches the soul of the person, granting the innermost desire based on the nature of the person. Porcupine might have that he wanted to save his brother, but deep down he really wanted wealth. After Porcupine realized that his wish was not granted, he hung himself. (There is a Bible passage that fits this point perfectly. “What shall it benefit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul” (Mark, 8:36)) Writer refuses to enter “The Room” and pollute his soul or poison anyone else with his selfishness. The telephone rings again, but is ignored. Writer loses his balance and almost falls into “The Room”, but is pulled back by Stalker. Professor disassembles the bomb and throws the parts into the water. Writer holds on to Stalker as Professor squats next to them. Stalker wonders aloud if he should live here with his wife and child where no one will hurt them. Off screen there is the sound of a train. There is a cut back to the sepia tinted black and white footage of the outer world. The footage is a shot of Stalker’s wife and child in the bar. The three men are at the table they started out from. The wife leads Stalker out of the bar with the child. The next shot is a colour shot of what looks like the child walking along a riverbank, but as the camera lowers the viewer realises that Stalker has her on his shoulders. The river is littered an industrial building produces smoke lies behind it. The viewer returns to Stalker’s house in sepia. Stalker is saying that no one has faith anymore, and he and “The Room” are no longer needed. The wife tries to comfort Stalker. The wife then addresses the viewer stating that people used to laugh at Stalker. Her mother refused to let them marry because stalkers end up in jail. But she states that Stalker made her happy and one cannot have happiness without sorrow. She says “I would rather live in bitter happiness than a dull grey life.” The final shot is in colour and is of the child sitting and reading by a table. Poetry is audible in voice over in what should be the child’s voice if she could speak. She stares at two glasses on the table. Slowly the glasses move across the table and break on the floor. Then a train is heard again. (This again pins a supernatural explanation in the form of telekinesis suggested by the voice over of the mute child against the scientific explanation of the train causing the table to shake the glasses off.) If the viewer looks at the film from a totally rational and scientific view, this film will seem boring. There was no visual danger in “The Zone” apart from the suspense brought about by dripping water, crunching glass, and electronic music. While on the other hand, “The Room” was almost proven to be a superstitious fallacy, and a supernatural believer would be disappointed in the way that the journey was ended. The film seems to place the viewer in the interesting dream world of “The Zone” though the use of lush colour there. But at periods removes the viewer from the film into real life by the sudden return to sepia or a loud disrupting noise like the train, or the foghorns from the docks by the bar, or the telephone. Where the film is suppose to climax at the entrance of “The Room”, the ringing awakes the viewer from the film’s trance. This is also true of the questionable shot of the child’s telekinesis abilities and the train. I believe that Tarkovsky was trying to point out that while faiths may be wrong or useless, they make life more interesting to live. They provide hope and miracles for wretches who have nothing left in life. Tarkovsky states that his theme in Stalker “is the theme of human dignity; of what that dignity is; and how a man suffers if he has no self respect.” (Tarkovsky, p.198) He also states that the reason Writer and Professor failed is because “they lack[ed] The spiritual courage to believe in themselves.” (Tarkovsky, p.198) And it was Stalker who had the “Supreme value by which… man lives and his soul does not want.” (Tarkovsky, p.198) Life needs to be scientific and spiritual, happy and filled with sorrow. It is Stalker’s wife who realises this. I think her statement “I would rather live a bitter happiness that a dull grey life” is the most important quote from the film, and probably the best summary. The film forces the viewer to realise that science makes life possible to live, but it is faith that makes life worth living. The idea of classifying this film into a popular category, like Science Fiction, proves to be hard. Although based on a Science Fiction story, the film seems to be more Spiritual that Science. Although there is a lot of suspense, Action is not an accurate classification because nothing really disastrous or eventful happens to the group. Drama does not fit the description perfectly. The definition of Drama is broad. The dictionary states that it is a composition that tells a story of human conflict by means of dialog and action preformed by actors. There are two parts of the definition that do not fit the film’s description. The conflict is mostly monologue and dialogue, not action as stated above. Also, the acting is not “dramatic”. The viewer has a difficult time seeing that the people are acting. Like Stanislavsky’s “Method Acting”, the actors seem to really be their characters and not playing a roll of a character foreign to them. The Realism of the film also contradicts the Science Fiction category. The film seems real to the viewer and has allegories to reality. One comparison that should not be overlooked, is the condition of the outer world to the state of the Soviet Union, which was still in existence in Tarkovsky’s time. Although the official setting in the novel was Canada, Tarkovsky never named the location of his film. However, certain details in this ambiguous setting could lead one to believe he was talking about the state of the Soviet Union at the time. The factories, pollution, and power plants that litter the horizon are obviously related to the Communist system based on an industrial ideology. Many Soviet posters were proud to “Give to heavy industry.” Historical disasters like Chernobyl were the results, and are reflected in the film by the pollution and debris. Also the armed guards and barbed wire keeping the people out of the supernatural and spiritual “Zone” represent the militarism of the Soviet Union in conjunction with the atheist stance of the ideology. One could look deeper into the film’s allegorical meaning. The outer world was always shown in a dull brown grey sepia. The viewer gets the impression that he or she has looked at too many red banners and propaganda posters for too long. The colour detecting cones in the viewer’s eyes seemed to have burned out. Now imagine looking at an Orthodox Church ceiling. To eyes that have been desencitised to the colour red, the gold and lush mosaics seem so beautiful and vivid, like the lush overgrown green vegetation in “The Zone”. It is more than just a coincidence that green is directly opposite red on the colour scale. Any viewer of Tarkovsky’s film Stalker would never be able to define its category. Is it Socialist Realism, the reality of socialism and its effects on the people and the land or Science Fiction? Can people in a truly believable situation be dramatic actors? One thing that is true of the film is that it causes the viewer to think. It causes the viewer to hope they are never in this situation. But the world is a struggle between rationalism and intuition, spirituality and science, and in a way we are all in this situation. People would rather live in “Interesting Times”, a “Bitter Happiness” and not “A Dull Grey Life.” Bibliography: Johnson, Vita T. and Petrie, Graham. The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue. 1994. Indiana University Press. Indianapolis Petrie, Graham and Dwyer, Ruth. Before the Wall Came Down: Soviet and East European Filmmakers in the West. 1990. University Press of America. Lanham Tarkovsky, Andrey. Sculpting in Time: The Great Russian Filmmaker Discusses His Art. 1986. University of Texas Press. Austin Follow Ups: Re: STALKER: a synopsis and analysis Ivan Grozny 12/12/98 (0)

Post a Followup Name: E-Mail: Subject: Comments: [please delete the quoted lines you are not referring to] : An old Chinese curse states “May you live in interesting times.” It is a curse because the times that are interesting one’s life are the times of danger and suffering. Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film titled Stalker is almost a perfect illustration of people inflicted with this curse. The people in the film leave the safety of their world to enter “The Zone”; a dangerous region surrounded by barbed wire fences and armed guards. In “The Zone” is a “Room” said to grant one’s wishes. Tarkovsky stated in 1982 “We’ve reached a time when we must declare open warfare on mediocrity, greyness and lack of expressiveness, and make creative inquiry a rule of cinema.”(Petrie, p190) Tarkovsky’s film is not easily classified as Drama, Action, or Science Fiction. It contains elements of all three but seems to remain distinctly different from each one. In this three-hour film, he keeps the viewer waiting at the edge of their seat, interested in the film and waiting for the climax, but without the predictability of a Science Fiction, Action or Drama film. : Stalker is based on a science fiction novel called Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. However, the film takes many liberties and is a giant leap away from the text. In the book, the reason for entering “The Zone” is for scientific analysis, but the film shifts the motive to the quest for “The Room” and the spiritual inner journey to discover the secret desire that “The Room” will grant. Tarkovsky states “The Zone is not a territory, but on the contrary, a trial, which one either passes or fails. Everything depends on self-dignity, on how far one is able to distinguish between the important and the transitory.”(Petrie, pp. 195-6) Also, Tarkovsky uses colour to distinguish between the drab world and the interesting “Zone”. In the dull outer world, Tarkovsky films in black and white, but tints the picture with sepia to separate similar tone greys into different browns. This allows a complete view of the area in the film frame without the distractions of vivid colour or the confusion of black and white. : In the movie, Three people enter “The Zone”: Writer, a well known but burned out has been who is searching for inspiration. Professor, a physicist who is hoping to gain fame and riches by discovering the mysteries of “The Zone”. And Stalker, one of a few stalkers or guides who bring selected people into “The Zone”. There is great mystery and fear surrounding “The Zone”. Rumours restated in the film are that a meteorite fell on the area, a small town that contained a laboratory or military station called Bunker Number Four, also known as “The Room”. “The Zone” is often compared to the Bermuda Triangle as a mysterious spot where people enter and disappear. “The Zone” is fenced off with barbed wire and armed solders. It is unclear if this is to prevent people from entering “The Zone” and why they would want to prevent it, or if it is to prevent something, an alien being or alien ideas, from entering the civilized world. : Tarkovsky pins scientific observation against superstitious belief so that depending on the frame of mind of the viewer, one could view two different stories in the same film. One could view the film rationally, explaining away “The Zone” as a nuclear accident like Chernobyl, not a large explosion that destroys the landscape, but a leak that wipes out almost every animal and leaves the vegetation to grow over the man made objects and dwellings. This could explain the death and disappearances of people, as well as the birth defects found in the children of stalker’s and why the Stalker tires easily and needs to frequently rest on the journey to “The Room”. : One could also view the film as a pseudo-religious quest. One could state that the reason Stalker can enter and exit “The Zone” is because he is pure, has good intentions, or is free from sin. One must be both cautious and righteous to pass through and have the wish, the innermost desire granted. Where a rational mind would see the Stalker as an Indiana Jones type person looking for adventure, the Romantic would view him as the Biblical Persebal questing for a holy relic like the Grail. The Stalker poetry and stories are like the Oracle of the ancient Greeks. The viewer needs to interpret the Stalkers words, as the priests needed to decipher the Oracles predictions. And his frequent rests are to be in touch with the Earth, because as a guide he must be one with the land. : One can easily classify the three characters within this framework. The Stalker is a true believer in the powers of “The Zone”. He is almost militant that his chosen followers are, and remain pure. He takes away the writer’s alcohol and pours it out when they are standing in the field and removes his gun and pushes it into the water, a symbol of baptismal cleansing, when they are approaching “The Room”. The Professor is a man of science and is therefore a pragmatic disbeliever. He brings a bag with his lunch along the journey where Stalker seems to be religiously fasting. And the Writer is an ambiguous agnostic. He claims that Stalker’s superstitions are a hoax, but is afraid to disobey Stalker’s orders. He is too afraid to go the strait path to “The Room” and ends up turning back and following Stalker. : To explain any of these concepts further one would need a synopsis of Stalker. I will try to explain it through direct scientific observation, but I will also include the spiritual and mystic connotations of the film. The film starts with electronic music. The title and credits appear over sepia tinted black and white footage of a dingy bar. The title itself is striking. “Stalker” is not a Russian word. It produces feelings of alienation in the viewer. Its definition in English is brings the sense of one who moves silently, with stealth and speed. After the title and credits a quotation from Professor Wallace about the appearance of “The Zone”. While the statement is scrolling, a bartender enters, serves a patron, and exits. : The next shot has the camera silently creeps through an open doorway onto a brass bed. A trinity of figures, a man, woman, and child are sleeping. A train passes causing a glass of water to move across a table containing a box of pills. The appearance of the room seems to be one of poverty and misery. The man slithers out of bed, dresses, and quietly leaves the bedroom almost closing the door on his way out. As he leaves the woman sits up in the bed. : He washes himself with primitive haste in a kitchen with wooden floors. A light turns on, but burns out breaking the bulb. The wife pleads that he stop and reminds that he could end up in jail for ten years. He pushes past her and leaves as she states that he is the reason that they have “Such a child”. His client soon identifies the man as Stalker as they meet in a dockyard. The client is an arrogant intellectual in the company of an elegantly dressed woman and is telling her how dull contemporary life is without suffering. When asked if the woman can come along on the journey, Stalker, who did not expect her, orders her to leave and becomes disgusted that the client has been drinking. : Stalker and the man enter the bar from the title sequence and meet the customer. As they follow in a conversation, the Stalker again forbids the first man, Writer, to drink and addresses the second man as Professor. The Writer presents himself as cynical in his own ability to continue writing. The Professor states that his motive is scientific curiosity. The Writer replies with the motive of inspiration. A train whistle is audible and Stalker states that it is time for them to go. : They get into a topless jeep and drive through trash filled streets and run-down buildings avoiding an armed policeman by stopping and ducking when he rides by. The follow the train as it passes through a gate into an inner and more heavily guarded barrier. They hide again to avoid detection. When Stalker pauses to plan the next move, Writer voices displeasure with the trek so far, but Professor remains quiet. They get into the jeep and follow behind another train to gain entrance past a large barbed wire gate. As they pass they come under fire from many armed troops. They soon find a railway flatcar and again come under fire as they trail off down the track. The troops do not follow them into “The Zone”. : As they enter “The Zone” the film changes from sepia tones to rich colour. A body of water and vivid green vegetation are visible, but there are still remains of dilapidated buildings and industrial waste. In “The Zone”, Stalker tells a story about Porcupine. Porcupine was his teacher who also brought people into “The Zone” until something went wrong and he was “punished”. Stalker then asks Professor to tie some bandages around a few metal nuts and goes to take a walk. While Stalker is away, Professor tells Writer about their guide. He states that Stalker was imprisoned and has a mutated daughter with no legs. He tells about Porcupine and how after he became wealthy, he hung himself. The Professor also elaborates on the history of “The Zone” and how a meteorite could have fallen on the area twenty years ago and after it happened, strange things started to occur. Soon rumours began to spread of a room within “The Zone” that could grant one’s wishes, and a military blockade formed to prevent wicked people with hostile desires from wishing. The Writer then asks what could it be if not a meteorite. The Professor suggests a supernatural event when he replies that it could have been a gift or message to mankind. : Stalker is briefly seen lying down with his face in the long grass. He gets up and returns to the expedition with the Professor going first and Stalker following throwing some of the bandaged nuts to leave a trail indicating the way that they came. Overgrown military vehicles litter the landscape and Stalker comments that a military expedition came here when he was a child. There is a clearly visible building that seems to be their destination across a short field. Writer disbelieves Stalkers warning that they cannot go directly to the building and they begin to argue. Stalker warns that “The Zone” is alive and demands respect. Failure to respect “The Zone” will result in punishment. Stalker takes Writer’s flask of alcohol and empties it onto the ground. Writer begins to directly cross the field to the building. Weird sounds start to be herd and a voice says “Stop, don’t move!” when Writer is about half way. Writer turns and heads back to the group. When he asks who said that, both Stalker and Professor claim it was not they. : They begin to argue and Professor suggests that Writer became frightened and told himself to turn back. Stalker yells a warning that “The Zone” is a complex maze of fatal traps. It is the people and not “The Zone” that set the traps. People have had to turn back at various points along the way and people have died on “The Room’s” threshold. Writer asks if “The Zone” lets the good pass and the evil die, again suggesting a religious judgement. Stalker replies that he thinks it is the hopeless wretches that are allowed to pass, but even they die if they do not behave properly here. Stalker suggests that Writer is lucky to have received a warning from “The Zone”. Professor asks to wait behind while the others continue, but Stalker replies that the request is impossible because they will not return the same way they left and offers to abandon the mission and refund portions of the money. Professor reluctantly rejoins the party. : The next scene begins with Stalker’s calling for the other two. Writer and Professor are seen standing in front of a doorway with dilapidated tiles on the walls. A metal nut on a bandage is seen hanging behind them and Professor’s bag is on the ground. Writer states that he thinks they are in for another lecture from Stalker. Stalker moves across a ledge while his thoughts can be heard in a voice over. He joins the two as they exit a large drainpipe. The voice asks that the other two believe, and that they become helpless children because weakness is great and strength is worthless. Weakness expresses freshness of existence and tenderness. Strength, he states, are like hardness and dryness. Strength is a companion of death and what becomes hard will not triumph. This statement recalls the biblical passage “the meek will inherit the Earth.” : Professor asks to return to fetch his lunch bag. Stalker refuses to let him go as he sends Writer ahead down a latter. Writer and Stalker pass the tiled wall and through a few archways reaching a waterfall. They begin to wade in the water when Writer notices that Professor is missing, but Stalker says that they can not turn back and pushes ahead. The camera suddenly focuses on hot coals in a campfire. The camera pans across a tiled floor with a few inches of water on it. Under the water is medical waste and rusty metal trash along with a book, possibly a Bible. Writer exits the archway already seen twice only to be standing next to Professor calmly sitting and drinking from his thermos. The lunch bag is on the ground next to a fire and a bandaged nut is hanging behind them. Seeing the nut Stalker claims that they have fallen into a trap. Writer and Professor begin to insult each other. (It is this point in the film where I as the viewer lost faith in Stalker as a prophet, but not in “The Zone’s” power, mystery, and danger. Stalker is clearly going in circles, but he seems correct to be cautious of “The Zone” because of the strange music and unexplained sounds it still seems like a supernatural place. I think this is allegorical to the Russian Leo Tolstoy’s leaving the Orthodox Church to rediscover Christianity. I abandon the leader, but not the cause.) The conversation continues between Writer and Professor. The camera again examines some objects under the water. Biblical readings can be heard in voice over by Stalker and a woman, possibly Stalker’s wife. Electronic music amplifies the strangeness of the scene. There is now dialog between Writer and Stalker about art and redemption. : There is a quick cut to a dark tunnel called the “Meat Grinder”. There are holes in the top that let light cast down onto murky water covering the bottom of the tunnel. Stalker has a drawing of matches to see if Writer or Professor goes first, but the matches are the same lengths and Writer is tricked into leading the party. Sounds of water dripping and echoing footsteps create suspense and tension in the already uneasy atmosphere of the small dark tunnel. Before Writer goes through he has Stalker toss a metal nut into the tunnel to make sure it is safe. Stalker follows behind Professor through the “Meat Grinder”. They reach a door at the end of the tunnel. The small room beyond is seriously flooded. Writer pulls out a gun, but Stalker takes it away asking Writer who or what he thinks he is going to shoot. Writer proceeds through the flooded room. There is a close up of Stalker’s hand slowly pushing the gun into the water with the tips of his fingers, as if not to get any of the gun’s bad karma on himself and thus causing “The Zone” to punish him. Professor and Stalker follow and Stalker calls Writer to wait. : Writer is seen in a large room with what look like large sand dunes. Stalker throws another nut into the room and both he and Professor quickly lie down for cover. The nut seems to bounce off a dune where logic makes the viewer think that its weight should have made it stay where it landed. A bird flies through the room but disappears halfway. Another bird flies through the room but safely reaches the other side. Writer is now seen in the dunes standing next to what looks like a well. Writer drops a large rock into the well and starts a monologue about how meaningless and superfluous his life and work are. He speaks with both self-loathing and bitter honesty. He sees himself as a writer who hates to write and finds the work to be like torture. He states how he used to think that he wrote helpful books for people, but nobody bought them. Stalker comforts him by telling him that if “The Meat Grinder”, the harshest trap in “The Zone”, allowed him to pass then he must be a fine person. Stalker tells the story about how Porcupine sent his brother, a good and gifted individual, into the “Meat Grinder” to die. Stalker then begins to recite poetry about how nature’s beauty and living life to the fullest can not compensate for escaping one’s fate. (This sequence gives the viewer the feeling of solitary soul-searching that prophets like Buddha and Moses did when they wandered in the desert for a number of days and nights.) : The men enter a room with trash and a thin layer of water on the floor. There is a window in a wall of the room and a doorway opposite the window. This room has a telephone on the floor. The men get into a serious discussion about their motives for going on this trek. The telephone suddenly rings. Writer answers it, stating that the caller has not reached the clinic and that the caller dialed the wrong number. Professor then uses the phone to call his lab. Professor gloats to his boss that the destination has been reached and the boss has been out smarted. Professor remarks to the group that people will misuse “The Room”. Stalker claims that he does not bring those kind of people into “The Zone”, but Professor replies that he is not the only stalker out there. Stalker points out the doorway and states that they have reached the most important decision in their lives. He urges them to rethink their pasts and believe in “The Room”. He asks who wants to go first? : Writer refuses to go saying that sniveling and praying are humiliating. Professor announces that he intends to destroy the room with a bomb that he has brought with him. He explains that his boss at the lab hid the bomb because the room meant hope and did not want it to be destroyed by Professor. Professor states that “The Room” does not provide happiness and will only be used for evil intentions. Stalker leaps onto Professor for possession of the bomb. Writer pulls Stalker off of Professor. Stalker asks Writer what he is doing and why does he want Professor to destroy their hope. Writer calls Stalker a hypocrite who is only interested in money and power. He claims Stalker uses people’s hopelessness to feel like a god or a tsar here. Stalker beaks down into tears saying stalkers are not allowed to enter “The Room” or be selfish. He sobs that “The Zone” is all he has left because everything on the other side of the barbed wire was taken from him. : Writer calls Stalker a “Holy Fool”, a blind believer. Then Writer offers his analyses for Porcupine’s suicide. Writer claims that “The Room” grants not a rational wish where the consequences can be planned out, controlled, and minimized, but that is searches the soul of the person, granting the innermost desire based on the nature of the person. Porcupine might have that he wanted to save his brother, but deep down he really wanted wealth. After Porcupine realized that his wish was not granted, he hung himself. (There is a Bible passage that fits this point perfectly. “What shall it benefit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul” (Mark, 8:36)) Writer refuses to enter “The Room” and pollute his soul or poison anyone else with his selfishness. The telephone rings again, but is ignored. Writer loses his balance and almost falls into “The Room”, but is pulled back by Stalker. Professor disassembles the bomb and throws the parts into the water. Writer holds on to Stalker as Professor squats next to them. Stalker wonders aloud if he should live here with his wife and child where no one will hurt them. Off screen there is the sound of a train. : There is a cut back to the sepia tinted black and white footage of the outer world. The footage is a shot of Stalker’s wife and child in the bar. The three men are at the table they started out from. The wife leads Stalker out of the bar with the child. The next shot is a colour shot of what looks like the child walking along a riverbank, but as the camera lowers the viewer realises that Stalker has her on his shoulders. The river is littered an industrial building produces smoke lies behind it. The viewer returns to Stalker’s house in sepia. Stalker is saying that no one has faith anymore, and he and “The Room” are no longer needed. The wife tries to comfort Stalker. The wife then addresses the viewer stating that people used to laugh at Stalker. Her mother refused to let them marry because stalkers end up in jail. But she states that Stalker made her happy and one cannot have happiness without sorrow. She says “I would rather live in bitter happiness than a dull grey life.” : The final shot is in colour and is of the child sitting and reading by a table. Poetry is audible in voice over in what should be the child’s voice if she could speak. She stares at two glasses on the table. Slowly the glasses move across the table and break on the floor. Then a train is heard again. (This again pins a supernatural explanation in the form of telekinesis suggested by the voice over of the mute child against the scientific explanation of the train causing the table to shake the glasses off.) : If the viewer looks at the film from a totally rational and scientific view, this film will seem boring. There was no visual danger in “The Zone” apart from the suspense brought about by dripping water, crunching glass, and electronic music. While on the other hand, “The Room” was almost proven to be a superstitious fallacy, and a supernatural believer would be disappointed in the way that the journey was ended. The film seems to place the viewer in the interesting dream world of “The Zone” though the use of lush colour there. But at periods removes the viewer from the film into real life by the sudden return to sepia or a loud disrupting noise like the train, or the foghorns from the docks by the bar, or the telephone. Where the film is suppose to climax at the entrance of “The Room”, the ringing awakes the viewer from the film’s trance. This is also true of the questionable shot of the child’s telekinesis abilities and the train. : I believe that Tarkovsky was trying to point out that while faiths may be wrong or useless, they make life more interesting to live. They provide hope and miracles for wretches who have nothing left in life. Tarkovsky states that his theme in Stalker “is the theme of human dignity; of what that dignity is; and how a man suffers if he has no self respect.” (Tarkovsky, p.198) He also states that the reason Writer and Professor failed is because “they lack[ed] The spiritual courage to believe in themselves.” (Tarkovsky, p.198) And it was Stalker who had the “Supreme value by which… man lives and his soul does not want.” (Tarkovsky, p.198) Life needs to be scientific and spiritual, happy and filled with sorrow. It is Stalker’s wife who realises this. I think her statement “I would rather live a bitter happiness that a dull grey life” is the most important quote from the film, and probably the best summary. The film forces the viewer to realise that science makes life possible to live, but it is faith that makes life worth living. : The idea of classifying this film into a popular category, like Science Fiction, proves to be hard. Although based on a Science Fiction story, the film seems to be more Spiritual that Science. Although there is a lot of suspense, Action is not an accurate classification because nothing really disastrous or eventful happens to the group. Drama does not fit the description perfectly. The definition of Drama is broad. The dictionary states that it is a composition that tells a story of human conflict by means of dialog and action preformed by actors. There are two parts of the definition that do not fit the film’s description. The conflict is mostly monologue and dialogue, not action as stated above. Also, the acting is not “dramatic”. The viewer has a difficult time seeing that the people are acting. Like Stanislavsky’s “Method Acting”, the actors seem to really be their characters and not playing a roll of a character foreign to them. The Realism of the film also contradicts the Science Fiction category. The film seems real to the viewer and has allegories to reality. : One comparison that should not be overlooked, is the condition of the outer world to the state of the Soviet Union, which was still in existence in Tarkovsky’s time. Although the official setting in the novel was Canada, Tarkovsky never named the location of his film. However, certain details in this ambiguous setting could lead one to believe he was talking about the state of the Soviet Union at the time. The factories, pollution, and power plants that litter the horizon are obviously related to the Communist system based on an industrial ideology. Many Soviet posters were proud to “Give to heavy industry.” Historical disasters like Chernobyl were the results, and are reflected in the film by the pollution and debris. Also the armed guards and barbed wire keeping the people out of the supernatural and spiritual “Zone” represent the militarism of the Soviet Union in conjunction with the atheist stance of the ideology. : One could look deeper into the film’s allegorical meaning. The outer world was always shown in a dull brown grey sepia. The viewer gets the impression that he or she has looked at too many red banners and propaganda posters for too long. The colour detecting cones in the viewer’s eyes seemed to have burned out. Now imagine looking at an Orthodox Church ceiling. To eyes that have been desencitised to the colour red, the gold and lush mosaics seem so beautiful and vivid, like the lush overgrown green vegetation in “The Zone”. It is more than just a coincidence that green is directly opposite red on the colour scale. : Any viewer of Tarkovsky’s film Stalker would never be able to define its category. Is it Socialist Realism, the reality of socialism and its effects on the people and the land or Science Fiction? Can people in a truly believable situation be dramatic actors? One thing that is true of the film is that it causes the viewer to think. It causes the viewer to hope they are never in this situation. But the world is a struggle between rationalism and intuition, spirituality and science, and in a way we are all in this situation. People would rather live in “Interesting Times”, a “Bitter Happiness” and not “A Dull Grey Life.” : : Bibliography: : Johnson, Vita T. and Petrie, Graham. The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue. 1994. Indiana University Press. Indianapolis : Petrie, Graham and Dwyer, Ruth. Before the Wall Came Down: Soviet and East European Filmmakers in the West. 1990. University Press of America. Lanham : Tarkovsky, Andrey. Sculpting in Time: The Great Russian Filmmaker Discusses His Art. 1986. University of Texas Press. 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