In the aftermath of an apocalyptic event there is an area that is referred to as “The Zone”. No one is allowed to enter the Zone. Some believe that it was created when a meteorite crashed, and some believe it was created by aliens. The area is where the normal laws of physics do not apply. Within the Zone is an area that has the ruins of a building. Within the building is a room. It is said that anyone who enters that room is granted their most ardent wish. The Zone is cordoned off by the government. Anyone who tries to enter is shot.
Only a few people know their way around the Zone. They are called Stalkers. One of these Stalkers (Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy) lives in a rundown tenement with his wife, Zhena (Alisa Freyndlikh) and paralyzed daughter, Marta (Natalya Abramova). He takes people into the Zone and to the Room. Zhena doesn’t want her husband to take any more people into the Zone. He ignores her pleas and agrees to take two men in.
One man is a Professor (Nikolay Grinko), and the other is a Writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn). The three men meet at a dilapidated bar. They manage to avoid the troops guarding the Zone and sneak inside it. The Stalker leads the way to the Room. According to Stalker, the Zone is a dangerous place, and they must follow his exact instructions. He tells them that the shortest route to the Room is not always the safest. While traveling to the Room, Stalker tells them about another stalker called Porcupine who brought his brother to the Zone only to have him die. Porcupine went into the Room, became rich, but then committed suicide.
The Professor and the Writer talk about their reasons for wanting to go into the Room. The reasons they name are selfless in nature and even the Stalker believes that he is doing good for mankind by bringing people to the Room so they can find their heart’s desire. What they have not learned is that the Room will fulfill one’s secret desire. After much wandering and self-analysis, the men finally arrive at a rundown building. Inside they find the Room.
“Stalker” was released in 1979 and was directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is a Russian science fiction drama. The film was loosely based on the book “Roadside Picnic” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
The main theme of the film is the spiritual journey of the three main characters. Each man believes he knows why he is searching for the Room but the expedition into the Zone strips away their false beliefs and they find that what they say they are looking for is not what they really want. I found the film to be long and a little confusing as it wound about. The movie is very slow paced and can be frustrating if you are looking for action.
The main draw of the film is the cinematography. Some of the film is shot in color and some in sepia. As they move further into the Zone, the characters find themselves in a darker, depressing and more dangerous atmosphere. The movie was visually stunning.
After the accident at Chernobyl, guides who illegally took tourists into the forbidden area started calling themselves “stalkers”. Problems with the film stock used to shoot the movie required that most of it be reshot with another cinematographer.