Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker

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Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky is one of the most enigmatic movies in the history of cinematography. This masterpiece has been fascinated those viewers who appreciate professionalism and unusual qualities of the film, but also those souls who are always looking for some deeper answers. What make this movie is so extraordinary and different from others? It cannot be just one thing, indeed it is a totality of the experience. Not only the winning combination of interesting plot, haunting images, genuine dialogues, complicated characters of the protagonists makes Stalker unforgettable, but also the eerie feeling of being touched somewhere deep down by very strange but powerful force. It is hard to stay the same person after watching Stalker, because …show more content…

The opening scene is a long gliding shot that shows a main protagonist Stalker and his family laying on the bed. The entire atmosphere is very uneasy and depressing. Soon after Stalker meets two other characters - Writer and Professor at the bar. There need to be said something about each of them. Stalker is a man who brings people into the mystical place called Zone, he is a holy fool but also the last idealist, “a prophet who believes that humanity will perish for lack of a spiritual life” (Tarkovsky, Gianvito 59). He thinks this is his life mission and he is fully dedicated to this task. Write is a very complicated character. He is a well-known author, but he experiences dep existential crisis, his self-esteem is so low, he scarcely consider himself to e worthy of anything. The authenticity of own being seems to him questionable and meaningless. This man has a big split between reality and his inner desolation that evokes the feeling of lost and disbelief. Professor is a very pragmatic and simple man. He’s quite narrow minded, believes only in science, for him walk to the Zone doesn’t carry any spiritual significance. Later we find out that he wanted to blow up the Zone, but gave up on his plan. Despite heroes mutual disaffection (except Stalker, he likes his companions for the most time) there are many scenes when three men are grouped very closely to each other. The form a triangle, traditional symbol of trinity, that can be so often found in art. They are together against the vastness of the Zone. They become a point of convergence, like the whole being of the Zone is concentrated on them, follows their each step and

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