The long-suffering and most famous movie by Andrei Tarkovsky, «Stalker,» can now be watched online. The movie is based on a short work by the Strugatsky brothers, telling of a certain spot where a meteorite once fell and where, several decades later, a vast anomalous zone formed. In Tarkovsky’s adaptation, the rather simple story gained new life and a profound philosophical subtext, taking the form of a modern parable. At the center of the plot is a small group of zone researchers led by the grim but wise Stalker. Having heard of a mysterious room that grants wishes, a scientist and a writer hire the Stalker as a guide through the forbidden territory. The room turns out to be quite close to the borders of the zone, yet the Stalker leads his clients on a long detour, trying to avoid the deadly traps created by the anomalies. The dangerous journey into the depths of their fears and nightmares ends in frightening uncertainty, as a result of which each of the zone’s visitors finds his own personal enlightenment.
