Stalker

Okay, personally, I didn’t expect this at all. It had a beginning where I didn’t really understand much: what the Stalker is and what the Zone is, but at the same time I liked that the film lets you figure things out on your own as it goes. I’ll say it directly: I didn’t like the fact that it’s done in a Balzacian style, meaning there are so many details, emphasized by showing certain scenes for a very long time. I know this is what makes the film what it is, but it still felt a bit exaggerated to me. I really liked the silence. There are moments where you literally hear nothing, and I like that because it feels exactly like real life. The film shows reality very clearly; for example, Stalker and his family are exactly like a poor family in real life. The problem I noticed, and that I don’t think is okay, is the fact that Stalker wants to be understood. At the end, he is completely broken, lying in bed, saying that neither of the two understands and that no one believes or understands him. But when his wife tries to understand him and help him, he pushes her away. It’s very sad and unfair, but I can’t really judge him too harshly, because I do the same thing. With certain people, it just doesn’t feel right for them to understand you. It’s a very strange feeling. I place certain people above or below others, even though I know it’s not right. Something about them bothers me, and I know it’s wrong, but it feels inevitable. I don’t think Stalker understands himself either, and honestly, I have the impression that no one really understands themselves and no one truly knows themselves. People cover this up in different ways, but they aren’t even aware that they’re doing it. Stalker, on the other hand, genuinely tries to find a reason, a meaning, and he needs support. He asks for that support from certain people, not from just anyone. That’s why he refuses his wife’s help, not because it isn’t sincere, but because it doesn’t come from the place he needs it to come from. I really like the landscape of the Zone; I really like nature. The film obviously leaves everything open to interpretation, and I personally think this is a sad and dramatic ending. The little girl is shown as being sad simply because her father, Stalker, is not understood and, of course, is not truly present with her. This reflects a reality that many children and families go through. The film has a lot of philosophy, and the characters are built in a very complex way. It feels like you find very few people in real life who actually think this deeply. I really like the way the film approaches the idea of purpose and meaning in life. Through this film, Tarkovsky says something very important: we cannot understand each other because, first of all, we do not understand ourselves. There are people who find a purpose in life, for example, they believe they need to have a good life, to be good people, and this becomes an anchor, a reason to keep going. But there are very few people who let life be as it is, with a “?”, because they don’t know the purpose of life. As far as we know, life might have no purpose at all, or maybe it does, but we will never truly know. For a long time, I’ve felt a lot of pressure from this question about the purpose of life, and this film feels like the most fitting one for that question.