Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)

 

Apparently never had a presumption that film could be a very effective medium to achieve, learn and perceive art. Art itself is a very significant adjective that packs umpteens of interpretations and implications in context of life. Philosophers and auteurs over the decades have refurbished the definition with demonstrations and experiences. Andrei's ideologies have not only attracted me towards film as a medium but has also altered my posture over the time.

Before Stalker, Tarkovsky dealt with the most mystifying subjects of mortality. Andrei-the auteur's likeliness towards Dreams, Predominant thoughts, Desires and the mutable Memories was quite evident in his works. While via Andrei Rublev, he dealt with the indispensable power of faith, his semi autobiographical work Mirror's pivotal element itself rooted in the mystic nature of the narrative, the later plausibly been Andrei's most personal film from the ouuvre. The Conscious and Sub Conscious are the two bilateral entities that constantly confronts often causing infringement in the realm of brain as we constantly struggle to project our optimum ideas and decisions in the challenging circumstances. Stalker deals with this most enigmatic aspect of life.

"The alloted function of art if not as is often assumed to put across ideas, to propogtate thoughts, to serve an example. The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good."

The Narrative mystically opens with a downbeat atmosphere, not hard to imagine that the Stalker's world is doomed to the point where redemption seems nearly unattainable. Stalker, alike any other individuals, is striving for contentment and inner peace. Regardless of what he earns for his bread and butter, seeing the wretched beings in a dire state keeps him going, perhaps that simply consoling his state of life or maybe indeed it is the kind act that genuinely validates his self possession. Andrei Tarkovsky's ceaseless attempts towards piquing the sense of spirituality in his characters, as it was pretty evident through his works whether its Andrei Rublev where our Rublev's spirituality was hitched to his own passion or Solaris where Kelvin's subconscious memories were inexorably harrowing his soul.

On surface, it seems like we are destined to exclusively follow the journey of the Stalker , but as we delve deeper we learn that we more or less share the same subconscious dilemma with each of the characters . As The Writer precisely stated that his conscious mind would strive to meet the utopian ideologies, but contraralily his subconscious would redirect him to another horizon. The Porcupine, former Stalker, whose inner battle eventually got the better off him on realising that his subconscious was filled with the ideas that could eventually lead him to a very iniquitous life. Zone, the intangible character which is seemingly a manifestation of a pure hope or faith but as Stalker states that only we the human are responsible for the unidealistic state of the Zone which vaguely implies that our engimatic thoughts, nothing else but our flawed thoughts slims our chances of attaining what we consciously expect from the world.

Stalker correspondingly augmented my admiration for Tarkovsky's one of the earlier works, Solaris. As both narratives ostensibly deals with the inner subconscious self, Solaris brilliantly emphasized on the manifestation the consternations and regrets of one's innermost self thus suggesting there's no escape from the subconscious thoughts while Andrei accentuated this philosophy in Stalker. Its perplexing to make a note of our most ideal desires as we constantly try to sync our conscious thoughts with our inner world which is an inconclusive attempt as we probably could never foresee our dark and most doomed desires. However, it might sound contradictory that we could actually achieve certain goals over training our subconscious. I would like to support my notion with one instance. As I recently learnt Novak Djovokic, mentally the toughest sportperson I've ever seen, stated in an interview that he trained his subconscious so as his mind could pretend that different things are going around for the time being which unsurprisingly aided him, spiritually. It truly felt convincing in that context. I'd like to believe such mechanism do exist, but again Tarkovsky has given a resoluted picture that our deepest desires could make or break us in the most uncertain ways and there ain't much we.. mortal could do to alleviate the tribulation and this is nothing but The Human Condition.

One of the most pivotal aspects of Stalker is The Zone which opens up the door for the most horrific or unforeseen interpretations. Several sequences most noticibly the breathtaking final shot establishes the uncertainly in the minds of viewers. The Young girl commits telekinesis out of outwhere, which serves as a testament to the theory that Stalker, perhaps, was not saint all along, as he might have availed the room and his deepest desires might have betrayed his voluntarily percepted ideas and desires. Perhaps, both writer and professor have come to the terms that they are not in The Zone for what they need but there for what they want, and the ethereal desires might be adulterated. Another remarkable character to take a note of was the Dog who naturally allied with the Stalker in the Zone and perhaps his purest of desires have came into play as he gains the shelter under the roof.

Stalker's wife is the personification of what we could call an perfectly imperfect soul. The final monologue by her is everything. Inspite knowing vulnerabilty and the uncertainty would follow her, she opted to stay with Stalker, because weakness and pliacy are the expressions of freshness of being.

"Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win."

There are dozens of notions hovering over my mind right now but they are abstract and unfounded and I would rather let it sink in gradually. Genuniely feel like there is a lot to unearth from this outstanding piece of art and one day hopefully I could get to the depth. Surely, the Greatest Film I have Ever Seen in My Life...by a Mile. Thank You for this miracle of a film, Andrei.