If you're like me and wondered what the hell Stalker was all about, I would suggest reading Roadside Picnic , the book on which it was nominally based. Tarkovsky took his idea from the character, Redrick Schuhart, a laboratory assistant and Harmont Branch of the International Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures, leaving the rest up to the imagination. The names were changed to protect the innocent. While Tarkovsky chose to shroud the story in mystery, the Strugatsky Brothers lay it out pretty clearly in their science fiction classic. Redrick, the Stalker, has gone into the zone countless times but each time represents a new set of challenges, especially with the Harmont Branch cracking down on the plundering of alien objects left behind by a visitation to a small rural town in Canada. I suppose setting the story in a place outside Russia, allowed the Strugatsky brothers more room to explore new ideas and avoid heavy censhorship, but according to Boris in t...
Uh, no....
ReplyDeleteJulie Christie she is not. You might want to share this with Barton, though. I think he is a fan.
I remember Dr. Zhivago as one of the most beautiful movies I'd ever seen. I also remember it as one of the most effective pieces of anti-Soviet, anti-communist propaganda. It has been years -- probably when it came out -- so I'm not sure how it would seem now. But that's how I remember it.
Gintaras, this is an amazing blog.
ReplyDeleteThe entire history of Russian film and literature all in one place. I'm in awe every time I stop by.
Thanks av. The new Russian Dr. Zhivago is well worth a look. Much more true to Pasternak's novel. Pasternak was off limits during Soviet times, which was why Lean made his cinematic version. Pasternak had nothing positive to say about Bolvsheviks or the revolution. Unfortunately Lean trimmed a lot off the novel and didn't give Tonya her fair due, I thought. She is a much more captivating woman in the novel and in the new film version. Makes you wonder why he would give her up for Lara. But, Zhivago is an odd character, more in step with the 19th century Nihilists, I thought, than the modern 20th century Russian.
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