2008-10-09

I thought I would write about the downturn but decided not to. Like Caroline McCarthy says in this CNET blog,”We could all use some levity these days.” So I shall instead talk about Stalker, the 1979 russian sci-fi film made by Andrei Tarkovsky based on a book called ‘Roadside picnic’. I remember overhearing a
conversation at sirifort once about the movie and tried desperately to find a copy in India but couldn’t find it. All this wait and the first
three minutes almost put me to sleep. It has been a while since I have seen a film like this, with real long shots.For Tarkovsky the film was about faith and metaphysical ideas. The science fiction elements were just background. As a fan of science fiction, I was a little disappointed that the whole science fiction part was through suggestion. No attempt at ploys like the ones used by Spielberg, to increase tension with John Williams’ music. the mention of binomial theorem, the speculation of the meteor or a spacecraft crash landing and the bomb that the professor carries with him were the only times I thought the film tried to bring in science into the canvas. But as a student of film I was enriched by the many elements which made the film so brilliant. Supposedly most of the film was shot a second time over and was made on the fly after the labs ruined much of the kodak experimental stock which it was shot on. The part which was shot on the grainy sepia like stock gave the film a post apocalyptic look . The Wet industrial look and the soviet era structures also give it the extra dark mood.It reminded me of the hostel’s production designer Franco Carbone’s work. The ending is literary and it is a master stroke of a brilliant story teller. Most of the cast and crew supposedly had untimely deaths because they shot the film close to chemical factories and the toxins caused cancer. The film has interesting visuals and most of the shots talk to ones primitive instincts and you relate to the film in many ways.Tarkovsky manages to create an alien world with the camera thereby not having to rely on anything else but suggestion.Thereby posing an argument that all alien worlds are right here right now.

A bit of trivia-Chernobyl accident happened seven years later and the area was depopulated for obvious reasons and the area around the reactor came to be known as “the Zone’ like in the film and the people taking care of the site were called “Stalkers”.
I enjoyed the film a lot and I hope you do too. Lets keep the memory of Tarkovsky alive!’