Tarkovsky’s Stalker

Anyone seeking a good, dystopian, science-fiction flick need go no further than Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979).  This film takes the viewer on a ride through a depressed and run-down Russian city in which an unknown event of some sort has altered a nearby landscape to contain what may or may-not be some form of alien or mystical intelligence.  The legend is that if one goes into the “Zone” there is a building there with a room in it which grants the wishes of any who enter.  But rather than playing off an adventurous and action-packed journey to the fabled room, Stalker spends its time exploring the philosophical viewpoints of its main characters.

Said Zone is guarded zealously by the government (who have not figured out how to approach it safely), which means that those who wish to take a journey to the room of wishes must hire a guide of some sort.  Thus, the Stalker comes in.  It is his job to break the government blockade and lead his charges across the wildness, to the building, through its mystical traps (which have killed many) and eventually to the room.

The Stalker’s clients in the story consist of a writer who seeks to renew his inspiration and a professor who wishes to achieve great fame.  As the story unfolds, the strange landscape and rules which it seems to follow are a surreal backdrop which highlights the interactions between the three main characters.  The whole film is very existential in nature and provokes some deep thought in the viewer once they are done. 

I would have to say that Stalker is definitely one of the all-time classics of science fiction, regardless of an absence of laser guns, aliens or other high-tech trappings.