No one is allowed in the ZONE. One man, the Stalker, offers to take the Professor and the Writer to the Room. This is their story.
This is not a film for Friday night video parties. It is only about 160, but can seem much longer. Tarkovsky likes shots that are long (both in duration and in distance from the subjects in question), as well as looooong scenes.
What happens? We never see what the three main characters really want. They go to the room, but are unable to wish. Has anything happened? The unexplained use of the "Ode to Joy" at the end seems to indicate so.
The film is a visual treat. We see ruined land- and city-scapes, long, creepy tunnels, a room, curiously filled with sand dunes, and water flowing everywhere over the detritus of civilization (an important element in Tarkovsky's final film, The Sacrifice [1986]).
Is this a great film? Perhaps. We get a strong sense of desperation from the three men. Is this a film to be recommended for all? I'm not sure. I liked many of the film's elements, it just didn't seems to jell for me. Tarkovsky was a visionary, but his visions here lacked both narrative thrust and surrealism.
Copyright 1997 by Dale G. Abersold
