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Robert: If I'm asked which
Tarkovsky film

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I regard most highly,

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I will usually answer the one
that I've seen most recently

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or the one that I'm watching
right now.

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Sometimes I go back and watch
"Ivan's Childhood,"

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his very first film, 1962.

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With "Andrei Rublev,"

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"Solaris,"

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"Mirror,"

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"Stalker," those films
are indisputable.

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Mitch: "Stalker" is a haunting
Soviet-era

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science fiction movie

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in which stalkers are figures
who, for a price,

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will escort people into
this very dangerous area

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called "The Zone."

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This zone is considered
to be the site,

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possibly, of a UFO landing.

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[Speaking Russian]

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- Or some sort of
extraterrestrial event.

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And it has been cordoned off
by the military,

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because inside of The Zone,

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there exists a place called
"The Room."

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Mitch: And The Room is a place
where you will be granted

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your deepest, most cherished
desires.

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- Tarkovsky's got a particular
way of making films.

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I mean, "Stalker,"
it created a kind of mystery

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and a suspense
without any action.

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He can hold a shot

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so that you start thinking,

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what's happening now?

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But then the shot becomes
something else.

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The shot sort of evolves,

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just because of the time
you're actually observing it.

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Denis Villeneuve has
a similar sensibility.

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Sean: Like Carl Dreyer's
"The Passion of Joan of Arc,"

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Tarkovsky's camera is really
just concentrating

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on the faces of the three
principal actors,

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Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy,
who plays the stalker,

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Nikolay Grinko,
who plays the scientist,

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and Anatoliy Solonitsyn,
who plays the writer.

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Stalker" does have this
reputation

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being a prophetic film.

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It clearly wasn't Tarkovsky's
intention to make a film

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about nuclear power
or ecological disaster,

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but that's kind of there
in the film.

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Robert: Of course Tarkovsky
did encourage these

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sorts of wild interpretations,

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whether it be ecological
disaster,

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or as a prediction
of Chernobyl.

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Roger: The myth that
surrounds the movie

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becomes almost part
of the movie

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in some really strange way.

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The film is about belief,

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and there's been more myth
built up about the film

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than actually is
in the actual story.

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Sean: It really was,
you know, one of cinema's

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most difficult shoots.

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Problems with the lab
ruining the stock,

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people being fired,
the earthquakes.

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Since the film has been
completed,

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a number of stories have
grown up around "Stalker"

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to suggest that a lot
of the crew

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actually became seriously ill

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during the shooting
of "Stalker."

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Roger: I don't think
those people

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that were working on "Stalker"

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realized the danger
that they might be in.

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[Speaks Italian]

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Robert: Several people
that I've met

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experienced a central event
in their lives

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while working on "Stalker."

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When I moved to Chicago,

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I started going up
to a used bookstore

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that had old Soviet books
that I was interested in,

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and I got talking
to the proprietor,

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Grigory Verkhovsky.

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And only after some time
did I learn

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that he had actually worked
on "Stalker,"

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and had all these photographs,

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had all these stories to tell.

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[Speaking Russian]

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Robert: Over the years,
I think "Stalker" has become

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the central film in Tarkovsky's
oeuvre for many,

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the film that had the greatest
mystique about it.

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Mitch: One of the things
that heightens the mystery,

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and the extraordinary
qualities of the movie

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is that it was made
in the Soviet era,

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in a society that at that time

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was officially atheistic,

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was ardently materialistic,

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and here is a film

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with extraordinary
metaphysical themes.

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Sean: Tarkovsky came across
"Stalker" in 1973,

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when he first read the novel,
"Roadside Picnic,"

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by the Strugatsky brothers.

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It was Tarkovsky's second foray
into science fiction.

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He'd made "Solaris,"

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based on a novel
by Stanislaw Lem in 1972.

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And science fiction was seen
by the Soviet authorities

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as a safe genre.

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[Crowd shouts and cheers]

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- "Stalker" was beset with
problems from the get-go.

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The film was due
to start shooting

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towards the end of 1976

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in the Soviet Republic
of Tajikistan,

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in an area called Isfara.

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Robert: The first of the film's
problems

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happened at this point,

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there was an earthquake
in that area,

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rendering all of the locations
they'd selected

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completely unusable.

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- So Tarkovsky got his location
scouts to start looking around

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in other parts of the Soviet
Union,

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and they eventually
settled on Estonia.

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Arvo: When I was a student
in Moscow Film School in 1974,

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I was terribly lucky,

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because I met my favorite
filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky.

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When they came to prepare
the production

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of the "Stalker" in Tallinn,

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I asked permission
from Tarkovsky

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to come to shooting ground
of "Stalker."

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And actually I helped him also

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to find some locations.

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You see these letters.

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"U.N." United Nations.

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They were painted
for "Stalker" film.

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And right here was entrance

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into The Zone.

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Get closer.

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[reads] "These letters were
painted on the chimney in 1978,

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while shooting Andrei
Tarkovsky's cult movie,

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"Stalker."

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In the scene with the busy
United Nations soldiers

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at the gate of the mysterious
Zone,

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the letters can barely be seen
through the smoke and steam.

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The plaque was opened
on May 7th, 2008,

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to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of this...

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very good film."

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Let's play the scene
from the "Stalker."

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I am on Land Rover,

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and the train,

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with the two wagons, passed.

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So now I-- oh! Go.

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On the tracks,

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[Land Rover rumbles]

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now the soldiers notice,

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[Siren wails]

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and there was the projector,
very heavy,

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like fog and mist.

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Land Rover turns
around the corner,

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and disappears.

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On the shooting ground,

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it was strictly not allowed
anybody to take photographs.

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So I hid in the bushes
during the rehearsals,

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and my first shots were made
through the branches.

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I printed the images,

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and showed to Andrei.

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He was surprised,
and said, "yeah!"

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For example, I shot in Mosfilm
Studios,

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daydreaming Tarkovsky.

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And here, my favorite
cinematographer this time,

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Georgy Rerberg,
also on the "Stalker."

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I felt like it was second time
going to film school.

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I saw how these masters
are doing everything

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by their hands.

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It was... muah!

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wonderful.

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Andrei was very passionate
about cinematic image,

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and mise en scène.

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But in this case,
first time,

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he was arranging all
the moments of camera,

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and cinematographer
has nothing to do.

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- Tarkovsky is, if you like,
the quintessential auteur.

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He liked to quote Tolstoy:

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"Never trouble others with
what you can do yourself."

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The problem with that was
it made Tarkovsky

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look a bit like an egomaniac.

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- Andrei is behind the camera.

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Actors are working before
the camera.

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But cinematographer
standing aside,

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and scratching his head.

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Nothing to do.

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So Rerberg started drinking,

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fucking around
with the young ladies,

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and um,

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it made Andrei Tarkovsky mad.

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The relations grew worse.

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- On top of that, Tarkovsky
apparently had a feeling

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that there was something
wrong with the stock.

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And he kept asking the lab
to "please check."

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Arvo: They were shooting
already six weeks,

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not seeing any rushes.

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- For some reason, and I don't
have a good answer why,

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um, they did not check
the rushes.

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Jay: They weren't checking
the rushes.

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- Really?

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Well, that's--
[Laughs]

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that seems pretty crazy,
doesn't it?

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- Tarkovsky was using
a new batch of Kodak

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that had been given to him
by a producer in West Berlin.

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Roger: The first time they shot
"Stalker" it was on 5247,

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which at the time
was a new Kodak stock.

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00:15:30,625 --> 00:15:32,627
- They did the whole shooting

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and then returned to Moscow
to check the rushes.

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Sean: Finally they were able
to watch the rushes,

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and somebody described it
as um,

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looking at though it had been
shot through an aquarium.

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00:15:41,418 --> 00:15:43,159
- It was all dark and green.

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- But how does that make sense,

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00:16:01,221 --> 00:16:03,571
when any cinematographer
in the world

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00:16:03,614 --> 00:16:07,444
would shoot some tests
with the film stock.

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00:16:07,488 --> 00:16:10,447
Also, because there's one shot
from the original version

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00:16:10,491 --> 00:16:14,277
which is of this kind of
rolling pollution on a lake,

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00:16:14,321 --> 00:16:15,975
that is in the final film.

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It was certainly not
dark and green.

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So they used that shot,

222
00:16:21,502 --> 00:16:23,112
but they're saying
that shot was all right,

223
00:16:23,156 --> 00:16:24,940
but the rest of the footage
wasn't?

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00:16:24,984 --> 00:16:26,550
So it doesn't make sense.

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00:16:26,594 --> 00:16:28,944
- So opinions differ on what
the precise problem was.

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00:16:28,988 --> 00:16:31,642
Tarkovsky professed himself
completely dissatisfied

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00:16:31,686 --> 00:16:33,688
with the-simply the quality
of the image.

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00:16:33,731 --> 00:16:35,864
But he refused to continue
working

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00:16:35,907 --> 00:16:37,300
with what had been shot.

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- Hey, I wouldn't put that
past a director

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00:16:41,696 --> 00:16:43,350
who realized that,

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00:16:43,393 --> 00:16:45,004
wouldn't it be nice
to shoot it again?

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Maybe it was the way
the lab printed it.

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00:16:48,529 --> 00:16:50,313
Did anybody check the negative?

235
00:16:52,141 --> 00:16:54,230
Now, the negative was burned,
right, later.

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00:16:54,274 --> 00:16:56,232
So it doesn't exist anyway.

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So now the myth can grow
even more, you know?

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[Laughs]

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00:17:00,584 --> 00:17:03,326
The myth is so like The Room
in the film isn't it,

240
00:17:03,370 --> 00:17:05,589
you know, it just kind
of expands and takes on

241
00:17:05,633 --> 00:17:07,113
its own sort of dimensions.

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00:17:30,701 --> 00:17:32,964
- Andrei decided that

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00:17:33,008 --> 00:17:34,879
Georgy Rerberg is to be blamed.

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00:17:36,794 --> 00:17:39,319
Robert: Other participants
have suggested that

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00:17:39,362 --> 00:17:42,452
Tarkovsky was using a small
problem

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00:17:42,496 --> 00:17:44,324
that perhaps was surmountable

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00:17:44,367 --> 00:17:47,022
in order to get rid
of a cinematographer

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00:17:47,066 --> 00:17:49,459
he had become dissatisfied with
for one reason or another.

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- They spent already
approximately 65%

250
00:17:55,552 --> 00:17:57,598
of the whole budget
of the movie,

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00:17:58,860 --> 00:18:01,819
and result was very close
to zero.

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It was a scandal.

253
00:18:05,171 --> 00:18:08,087
On 23rd of July,

254
00:18:08,130 --> 00:18:10,654
they stopped the production
totally.

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00:18:10,698 --> 00:18:13,092
After that,
Andrei got heart attack.

256
00:19:08,059 --> 00:19:09,496
Jay: Yeah, that's fine.

257
00:19:09,539 --> 00:19:12,455
- He was put to hospital
for four weeks,

258
00:19:15,763 --> 00:19:17,852
and no visitors allowed.

259
00:19:19,593 --> 00:19:21,899
So only thing he could do,

260
00:19:21,943 --> 00:19:24,772
think again why the Hell

261
00:19:26,513 --> 00:19:29,298
the production went so badly.

262
00:19:30,865 --> 00:19:33,215
And I would say...

263
00:19:33,259 --> 00:19:36,871
that director Andrei Tarkovsky
was not ready

264
00:19:38,742 --> 00:19:42,181
to make the film on 1977.

265
00:19:44,792 --> 00:19:47,751
Andrei Tarkovsky had no clarity

266
00:19:47,795 --> 00:19:51,015
what he wants the movie to be.

267
00:19:53,061 --> 00:19:55,933
Even such a genius like
Andrei was,

268
00:19:55,977 --> 00:19:57,935
he's human.
He's not sure.

269
00:19:59,067 --> 00:20:01,156
He's afraid.

270
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:02,679
He has big doubts.

271
00:20:04,768 --> 00:20:06,596
After heart attack,

272
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,511
he was like a different man.

273
00:20:10,992 --> 00:20:14,256
There was a clarity
in the mind of Tarkovsky.

274
00:20:16,650 --> 00:20:21,263
He reconsidered the full
structure and script,

275
00:20:22,830 --> 00:20:25,180
and the image of "Stalker."

276
00:20:25,224 --> 00:20:27,443
Now director Tarkovsky knew

277
00:20:28,618 --> 00:20:30,968
exactly what he is doing.

278
00:20:33,667 --> 00:20:35,451
Robert: Tarkovsky had to go
back on location,

279
00:20:35,495 --> 00:20:38,062
and shoot the entire
film again,

280
00:20:38,106 --> 00:20:39,760
on half the money.

281
00:20:41,022 --> 00:20:42,545
With a new cinematographer,

282
00:20:42,589 --> 00:20:44,591
with a mostly new crew,
but with the same cast.

283
00:20:46,462 --> 00:20:49,160
This time, they were checking
the rushes.

284
00:20:49,204 --> 00:20:53,774
♪♪♪

285
00:20:55,036 --> 00:20:57,081
- Apart from the earthquake,

286
00:20:57,125 --> 00:20:59,083
the lab ruining the footage,

287
00:20:59,127 --> 00:21:01,172
Tarkovsky having a heart
attack,

288
00:21:01,216 --> 00:21:03,740
another problem that beset
the production was sickness.

289
00:22:14,420 --> 00:22:16,422
Sean: Tarkovsky himself died
of cancer

290
00:22:16,465 --> 00:22:18,859
in 1986 at the age of 54.

291
00:22:20,339 --> 00:22:22,732
This was only seven years
after completing "Stalker."

292
00:22:24,255 --> 00:22:26,214
One of the rivers they
were shooting on

293
00:22:26,257 --> 00:22:27,911
to the east of Tallinn,

294
00:22:27,955 --> 00:22:30,566
had various industrial waste
flowing into it,

295
00:22:30,610 --> 00:22:33,003
and a number of crew members
developed rashes,

296
00:22:33,047 --> 00:22:34,701
and fell sick during
production.

297
00:23:38,547 --> 00:23:40,680
Roger: Is that a myth or not,

298
00:23:40,723 --> 00:23:42,769
that these number of people
died

299
00:23:42,812 --> 00:23:45,511
because they spent those many,
many weeks

300
00:23:45,554 --> 00:23:47,513
kind of lying in the pollution

301
00:23:47,556 --> 00:23:49,819
of these old Soviet factories?

302
00:23:49,863 --> 00:23:51,430
I don't know.

303
00:24:29,293 --> 00:24:31,905
Jay: Would you lie in pollution

304
00:24:31,948 --> 00:24:33,472
to work with Tarkovsky?
- [Laughs]

305
00:24:35,691 --> 00:24:38,825
Uh, I probably would have
done back then, yes.

306
00:24:41,262 --> 00:24:42,829
I probably would've done.

307
00:24:42,872 --> 00:24:44,831
I mean, I do think the man
was a genius.

308
00:24:44,874 --> 00:24:47,311
Maybe if I'd known
it was pollution,

309
00:24:47,355 --> 00:24:49,662
and I was gonna die
30 years later, no.

310
00:24:49,705 --> 00:24:51,794
But in the moment,

311
00:24:51,838 --> 00:24:54,318
and being asked to shoot
a shot up to my--

312
00:24:54,362 --> 00:24:56,495
up to my waist in this
pollution,

313
00:24:56,538 --> 00:24:57,713
I might well have done it.
I don't know.

314
00:24:59,628 --> 00:25:01,369
Sean: Another one of the
strange prophetic aspects

315
00:25:01,412 --> 00:25:04,154
of "Stalker" is that during
the dream sequence,

316
00:25:04,198 --> 00:25:06,330
when the Stalker's wife
is reciting

317
00:25:06,374 --> 00:25:08,724
from the Book of Revelation,
you're going over a gun,

318
00:25:10,117 --> 00:25:11,988
and some medical equipment,

319
00:25:12,032 --> 00:25:14,121
and the van Eyck
Ghent Altarpiece,

320
00:25:14,164 --> 00:25:16,166
you also see a calendar,

321
00:25:16,210 --> 00:25:17,733
a page torn off
from the calendar.

322
00:25:19,213 --> 00:25:21,650
And it says December the 28th,

323
00:25:21,694 --> 00:25:23,565
and it's under the water,
floating like a leaf.

324
00:25:23,609 --> 00:25:26,525
December the 28th, 1986,

325
00:25:26,568 --> 00:25:28,396
was Tarkovsky's last
day alive.

326
00:26:28,674 --> 00:26:30,414
Andres: Most of the people
who are interested

327
00:26:30,458 --> 00:26:32,982
are-are true afficionados
of you know,

328
00:26:34,549 --> 00:26:36,420
the-the culture of film,

329
00:26:36,464 --> 00:26:39,554
and I guess it's a kind
of a secretive cult,

330
00:26:39,598 --> 00:26:41,687
[Laughs] if you could
call it that.

331
00:26:43,645 --> 00:26:46,343
Yeah, cult of Tarkovsky,
or the cult of "Stalker."

332
00:26:48,476 --> 00:26:51,914
Arvo: People from very
different places

333
00:26:51,958 --> 00:26:56,179
are coming and ask me
to take them into Zone.

334
00:26:58,399 --> 00:27:01,620
During these years
I guided to The Zone,

335
00:27:02,838 --> 00:27:05,188
I'm sure more than
a hundred people.

336
00:27:05,232 --> 00:27:07,843
Now we really get stalking.

337
00:27:09,018 --> 00:27:10,629
That's it.

338
00:27:12,065 --> 00:27:13,849
Andres: So, I was interested

339
00:27:13,893 --> 00:27:16,983
in kind of stories of misfits,

340
00:27:17,026 --> 00:27:18,811
and other kinds of stalkers

341
00:27:22,641 --> 00:27:24,468
wandering around you know,
nowadays.

342
00:27:24,512 --> 00:27:26,166
- Now, get in.

343
00:27:26,209 --> 00:27:28,472
- You can still visit
these landscapes,

344
00:27:28,516 --> 00:27:31,650
and feel that you are
inside The Zone.

345
00:27:35,088 --> 00:27:37,394
- Now, we are on the location

346
00:27:38,569 --> 00:27:39,875
one of the first scenes.

347
00:27:41,660 --> 00:27:43,662
Alfa Romeo, three meters.

348
00:27:45,838 --> 00:27:47,927
And the car moved this way.

349
00:27:49,363 --> 00:27:51,974
This is real place
where it happened.

350
00:27:53,889 --> 00:27:55,717
That's it.

351
00:27:55,761 --> 00:27:57,719
[Laughs] Good!

352
00:27:57,763 --> 00:27:59,634
That's it.

353
00:27:59,678 --> 00:28:01,201
- You are standing on it?

354
00:28:01,244 --> 00:28:02,681
[Both laugh]

355
00:28:04,378 --> 00:28:06,685
Anders: Most of the filming was
done in the center of Tallinn.

356
00:28:08,121 --> 00:28:10,427
- Welcome to Stalker Street!

357
00:28:10,471 --> 00:28:11,907
Stalker Kaik.

358
00:28:14,693 --> 00:28:17,521
- Look at these walls.
Come on here.

359
00:28:17,565 --> 00:28:19,567
- And you can still find um,

360
00:28:19,610 --> 00:28:21,438
some of the locations

361
00:28:21,482 --> 00:28:23,832
fairly well preserved.

362
00:28:23,876 --> 00:28:26,705
- [Makes motor sound]
Coming.

363
00:28:26,748 --> 00:28:28,532
- You can actually sort of
find yourself in...

364
00:28:29,969 --> 00:28:32,188
um, well, The Zone.

365
00:28:32,232 --> 00:28:35,714
- Something--
Now I try to get.

366
00:28:35,757 --> 00:28:37,759
Is it now?

367
00:28:37,803 --> 00:28:38,934
[Engine rumbles]

368
00:28:38,978 --> 00:28:41,502
"AT," Andrei Tarkovsky.

369
00:28:42,677 --> 00:28:44,157
Do you remember?

370
00:28:45,593 --> 00:28:47,334
[Laughs]

371
00:28:51,991 --> 00:28:54,471
We are in the beginning
of Zone.

372
00:28:57,431 --> 00:28:58,867
If you remember,

373
00:28:58,911 --> 00:29:02,088
all these war machines
were over there.

374
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:06,701
And in the film,

375
00:29:06,745 --> 00:29:09,269
no living human creature
except Stalker

376
00:29:10,574 --> 00:29:12,228
never goes there.

377
00:29:12,272 --> 00:29:19,018
♪♪♪

378
00:29:19,061 --> 00:29:20,933
Dan Rather: Good evening,
this is the CBS Evening News.

379
00:29:20,976 --> 00:29:22,804
Dan Rather reporting.

380
00:29:22,848 --> 00:29:25,459
Every indication is that
it was a serious accident.

381
00:29:25,502 --> 00:29:28,070
The tightly controlled
Soviet government press

382
00:29:28,114 --> 00:29:31,073
calls it a nuclear power plant
reactor accident north of Kyiv.

383
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:35,208
The Soviets only hinted
at possible casualties.

384
00:29:35,251 --> 00:29:37,819
They say flat out
a reactor was damaged.

385
00:29:37,863 --> 00:29:41,301
Narrator: Human error stretches
the limits of technology again

386
00:29:41,344 --> 00:29:44,304
when the cooling system in
the Number 4 Power Reactor

387
00:29:44,347 --> 00:29:46,523
at Chernobyl fails,

388
00:29:46,567 --> 00:29:49,831
heating the fuel rods to over
4,000 degrees Fahrenheit,

389
00:29:49,875 --> 00:29:52,312
and causing a massive meltdown.
[Siren blares]

390
00:29:52,355 --> 00:29:54,880
The buildup of gases
in the reactor

391
00:29:54,923 --> 00:29:56,969
blows the roof off
the building,

392
00:29:57,012 --> 00:29:59,275
beginning the rapid spread
of huge clouds

393
00:29:59,319 --> 00:30:01,277
of deadly radiation
into the atmosphere.

394
00:30:03,105 --> 00:30:13,159
♪♪♪

395
00:30:13,202 --> 00:30:15,378
- One of the rumors surrounding
"Stalker"

396
00:30:15,422 --> 00:30:17,467
is that it predicted,

397
00:30:17,511 --> 00:30:19,339
or prophesied in some way,

398
00:30:19,382 --> 00:30:21,645
the Chernobyl nuclear
accident in 1986.

399
00:30:23,256 --> 00:30:25,475
There are uncanny parallels
with Tarkovsky's film.

400
00:30:27,695 --> 00:30:30,089
Robert: The professor brings
this small bomb into The Zone

401
00:30:30,132 --> 00:30:31,873
with the idea of destroying it.

402
00:30:41,317 --> 00:30:43,102
- The professor in the film

403
00:30:43,145 --> 00:30:45,017
gets the bomb out of
fourth bunker.

404
00:30:54,156 --> 00:30:56,202
- People have pointed out
that at Chernobyl,

405
00:30:56,245 --> 00:30:58,160
it was the fourth reactor
that exploded.

406
00:30:59,770 --> 00:31:01,947
So they're saying,
well, here's Tarkovsky

407
00:31:01,990 --> 00:31:04,340
almost pre-empting the actual
number of the reactor.

408
00:31:06,342 --> 00:31:08,867
Robert: But in a way
it's the radiation

409
00:31:08,910 --> 00:31:11,608
in the film that is really
the atomic element there,

410
00:31:13,219 --> 00:31:15,786
and that has caused people to
relate the film to Chernobyl,

411
00:31:15,830 --> 00:31:17,527
which happened a few years
later.

412
00:31:19,094 --> 00:31:23,229
Sean: When the reactor melted
down in 1986,

413
00:31:23,272 --> 00:31:25,796
the town of Pripyat
was sealed off,

414
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:27,886
and they created a zone

415
00:31:27,929 --> 00:31:29,452
very much like the zone
in "Stalker."

416
00:31:31,237 --> 00:31:33,282
- I don't know who found
this word,

417
00:31:33,326 --> 00:31:34,980
"stalker," "stalking,"

418
00:31:35,023 --> 00:31:37,156
but now it's extremely popular.

419
00:31:39,375 --> 00:31:42,074
So-called stalkers
are making money

420
00:31:42,117 --> 00:31:45,991
bringing people to zone
of Chernobyl.

421
00:31:49,037 --> 00:31:50,865
And uh,

422
00:31:50,909 --> 00:31:53,607
believe that they will not get
radiation.

423
00:31:53,650 --> 00:31:55,130
[Static crackles]

424
00:31:56,262 --> 00:31:58,133
They believe.

425
00:31:58,177 --> 00:32:01,049
[Chuckles] It's strange.

426
00:33:40,322 --> 00:33:43,847
♪♪♪

427
00:33:43,891 --> 00:33:46,372
Oksana: My name is Oksana.

428
00:33:46,415 --> 00:33:49,505
I'm working as a tour guide
for two years.

429
00:33:52,552 --> 00:33:55,163
Before, officially,
it was a kind of um,

430
00:33:55,207 --> 00:33:57,252
studying trips.

431
00:33:57,296 --> 00:33:59,559
We were like teachers.

432
00:33:59,602 --> 00:34:01,909
This building is the Hotel
Polica,

433
00:34:01,952 --> 00:34:03,911
and this one is right
behind it.

434
00:34:03,954 --> 00:34:05,826
It was the city council.

435
00:34:05,869 --> 00:34:07,958
We teach you about radiation.

436
00:34:08,002 --> 00:34:09,960
We teach you about the history
of the place.

437
00:34:10,004 --> 00:34:12,224
But now, officially,

438
00:34:12,267 --> 00:34:14,922
due to the government of
Ukraine, it became a tourism.

439
00:34:17,446 --> 00:34:19,361
[Woman laughs]

440
00:34:19,405 --> 00:34:21,537
- In the early beginning,

441
00:34:21,581 --> 00:34:23,409
there were a lot of people

442
00:34:23,452 --> 00:34:25,237
who were just passionate
because of the film.

443
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,804
And later, of course,

444
00:34:27,848 --> 00:34:30,590
they started to use the words
from the film,

445
00:34:30,633 --> 00:34:32,461
the phrases from the film.

446
00:34:33,854 --> 00:34:36,030
- I am absolutely sure

447
00:34:36,074 --> 00:34:38,815
everybody who goes
to the zone there,

448
00:34:40,382 --> 00:34:42,689
they have seen film "Stalker"
at least five times.

449
00:34:42,732 --> 00:34:44,734
[Laughs]

450
00:34:44,778 --> 00:34:47,868
Some of them know it
from the heart, you know?

451
00:34:47,911 --> 00:34:49,391
[Laughs]

452
00:35:29,736 --> 00:35:31,216
♪♪♪

453
00:36:08,862 --> 00:36:10,994
[Beeping]

454
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:42,635
- So now we are close
to the heart of The Zone.

455
00:36:44,550 --> 00:36:46,769
The Magic Chamber
is over there.

456
00:36:46,813 --> 00:36:49,424
Make up your wishes.
[Laughs]

457
00:36:51,383 --> 00:36:55,213
♪♪♪

458
00:36:55,256 --> 00:36:57,563
All of the rooms of this
power plant

459
00:36:57,606 --> 00:37:00,740
were recreated in Mosfilm
Studios.

460
00:37:02,481 --> 00:37:05,266
What is exactly the same

461
00:37:05,310 --> 00:37:07,921
are these concrete
covered by moss.

462
00:37:12,882 --> 00:37:14,623
It was for me like
a pilgrimage.

463
00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:18,584
Because I knew the people,
I knew Andrei.

464
00:37:21,587 --> 00:37:24,764
And many of them already
passed away.

465
00:37:27,723 --> 00:37:30,552
I had very close feeling,

466
00:37:31,901 --> 00:37:34,339
like, years later I went
to Jerusalem,

467
00:37:36,036 --> 00:37:37,733
and visited places where...

468
00:37:40,258 --> 00:37:41,520
Jesus Christ was...

469
00:37:42,999 --> 00:37:44,827
born, buried.

470
00:37:46,351 --> 00:37:48,135
Yeah, pilgrimage.

471
00:37:48,178 --> 00:37:49,571
You see these two windows.

472
00:37:50,703 --> 00:37:53,096
Behind those windows,

473
00:37:53,140 --> 00:37:55,490
this Magic Chamber

474
00:37:56,970 --> 00:37:59,320
where your human dreams
or wishes

475
00:37:59,364 --> 00:38:01,148
will be fulfilled.

476
00:38:01,191 --> 00:38:02,802
This was there.

477
00:38:06,371 --> 00:38:08,242
Jay: If you could
enter the room,

478
00:38:08,286 --> 00:38:09,896
what would you wish for?

479
00:38:13,900 --> 00:38:15,380
- I was 29 years old,

480
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,906
uh, just graduated film school.

481
00:38:21,951 --> 00:38:24,519
I-I didn't enter the room.

482
00:38:24,563 --> 00:38:26,304
But if I would,

483
00:38:29,176 --> 00:38:31,918
my wish maybe could be
that someday,

484
00:38:33,354 --> 00:38:36,923
I would like to do
really good films

485
00:38:36,966 --> 00:38:39,142
like Andrei Tarkovsky,

486
00:38:40,318 --> 00:38:41,449
on the same level.

487
00:38:43,886 --> 00:38:45,758
Andres: Everybody can make up
their own minds

488
00:38:45,801 --> 00:38:47,325
about what The Zone is.

489
00:38:48,674 --> 00:38:52,242
I think this uncertainty
is what captures

490
00:38:52,286 --> 00:38:53,809
people's imagination.

491
00:38:55,855 --> 00:38:57,944
It's a bit like a Japanese
garden or something.

492
00:38:59,424 --> 00:39:02,035
You see the stones
around you,

493
00:39:02,078 --> 00:39:04,864
and it's some kind of
a healing experience.

494
00:39:06,822 --> 00:39:08,433
It's-it's a good place
to go to, yeah.

495
00:39:10,348 --> 00:39:13,655
Jay: Do you think there's
a magic to the real locations

496
00:39:13,699 --> 00:39:15,657
as there was in The Zone
in the film?

497
00:39:17,833 --> 00:39:19,357
- [Sighs]

498
00:39:21,097 --> 00:39:22,925
I believe there is something,
yeah.

499
00:39:26,494 --> 00:39:29,236
One young lady asked me,

500
00:39:29,279 --> 00:39:32,108
Arvo, please bring me
to The Zone,

501
00:39:33,806 --> 00:39:36,417
and show me where the Stalker
was laying down.

502
00:39:38,288 --> 00:39:42,075
Her twin sister died
three weeks ago.

503
00:39:44,991 --> 00:39:46,819
I left her there
for 20 minutes.

504
00:39:48,386 --> 00:39:50,388
And when we meet after that,

505
00:39:51,519 --> 00:39:53,391
she was totally changed.

506
00:39:54,696 --> 00:39:57,133
She was calm and balanced.

507
00:39:58,352 --> 00:40:00,180
I don't know what happened,

508
00:40:00,223 --> 00:40:02,965
but it is a fact
that she was changed.

509
00:40:05,707 --> 00:40:08,493
That what I saw
with my own eyes.

510
00:40:10,233 --> 00:40:12,497
I have no explanation.

511
00:40:16,022 --> 00:40:23,986
♪♪♪

512
00:40:24,030 --> 00:40:32,995
♪♪♪

513
00:40:33,039 --> 00:40:42,004
♪♪♪

514
00:40:42,048 --> 00:40:51,013
♪♪♪

515
00:40:51,057 --> 00:41:00,022
♪♪♪

516
00:41:00,066 --> 00:41:09,031
♪♪♪

517
00:41:09,075 --> 00:41:13,035
♪♪♪

518
00:41:13,079 --> 00:41:18,563
♪♪♪