Andreĭ Arsenʹevich Tarkovskiĭ
Reviewed by Will S. on May 14, 2012
Surely one of the most enigmatic films ever made, Stalker depicts the journey of three men into the Zone, a quarantined area ungoverned by the ordinary laws of physics. They are searching for the Room, a place said to fulfill the innermost desires of those who enter it. Along the way Tarkovsky blends sepia toned images of nuclear power stations, eerie natural landscapes dotted with melted tanks, Christ imagery, and all sorts of aural hallucinations into a heady mix. Like Tarkovsky's previous film, Solaris, Stalker depicts characters confronting the unknown, looking for hard truth yet finding only endless iterations of their own narcissism and petty resentments. The film may also be a parable about faith and the difficult passages between belief and unbelief. If so, Stalker suggests that the organ of despair that drives people to search for truth is ultimately also what holds them back from ever finding it.