Stalker

State of emergency, camp, crisis seismograph, site of wish fulfillment: like no other film, the expedition of three men (writer, professor, stalker - local guide) to the enigmatic "Zone" developed a life of its own, unfolding even more than the Strugatsky narrative on which it is based an almost limitless spectrum of effects and establishing Tarkovsky's reputation as a mystical and parabolic prophet (also one of eco-catastrophe). (bw)