Stalker
This is what he died for
stalker may be one of the most philosophically layered pieces of art I have ever encountered, to me Andrei Tarkovsky is becoming among of the greatest free minds in art there ever was.
As the Stalker guides the Writer, and the Professor, through a mysterious spiritual, ominous, place that defies regular physics called the “zone”, there is a room in this “zone” that grants anyone there greatest desires.
Between the three and the premise, this film delves into profound philosophical questions, like the nature around human faith, what we truly want, and a greater purpose in life. As the film goes on certain things about each character comes to light all mixing a merging each character’s intent with each of there own philosophical world views, every conversation between them is rich in thematic meaning.
Are our desires truly want we want, when some of us ask for love do we truly want greed instead, when faced In spiritual existentialism how Important is faith to our hope, At this films heart, I think it is a tragedy, a tragedy about how we don’t believe anymore, not necessarily about religion or any specific concept but a symbol for anything we might want to believe, when we lack faith we lack hope, and a world without hope, is reflected in this film perfectly, I don’t want to live in this film. with the known world being colorized in a bronze and grey aesthetic and the zone being filled with natural color the cinematography is used as a thematic tool as opposed to any ordinary visual style.
This is what Tarkovsky died for, this is art this is beauty this is true prestige, it has been said that art is the consciousness of society, and put in Tarkovskys own words “Art enriches a man’s own spiritual capabilities” with these definitions thus enter stalker, Beyond the existential philosophical poem this film is, I think this proves Andrei Tarkovsky as more than just a filmmaker, but a true poet and legitimate philosopher and artist, I think he is one of the best to ever do it, as-well as I think stalker is one of the greatest films of all time
“When a man is born he is soft and pliable, when he dies he is strong and hard,-hardness and strength are deaths companions.” -The Stalker