Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker: Who said That? Part 2

Stalker and Professor each think the other one said: "Stop! Don't move!" They both deny it. When we cut back to Writer, notice where he is standing. He was a good five feet in front of that tree when he heard the voice but now he's behind it again in the same position he was before he started walking up to the building. Did all that really happen? Why would he move back again after being told not to? Now Writer walks back to where Stalker and Professor are and asks why they told him to stop. When they say they didn't, Writer says: "Who the hell knows..." Professor then offers this explanation: "You're smart, Mister Shakespeare. To go straight ahead is scary, to go back is embarrassing. So you gave yourself a command. Fear has made you come to your senses." This annoys Writer, who starts to protest but Stalker tells them both to stop it! Writer then brings up the fact that Stalker dumped out his liquor. Stalker is frustrated and tells them to stop it again.  "The Zone is a very complicated system...of traps, and they're all deadly. I don't know what's going on here in the absence of people, but the moment someone shows up, everything comes into motion. Old traps disappear and new ones emerge. Safe spots become impassable. Now your path is easy , now it's hopelessly involved. That's the Zone. It may even seem capricious. But it is what we've made it with our condition. It happened that people had to stop halfway and go back. Some of them even died on the very threshold of the room. But everything that's going on here depends not on the Zone, but on us!" Think about that. That is a  very powerful statement that may or may not suggest that the Zone is what you might think it is. Does the Zone adapt to who is in it? Does the Zone exploit the hidden truths we all have deep down inside us? Writer asks "So it let's the good ones pass and kills the bad ones?" Stalker replies: " I don't know. I think it let's those pass who...have lost all hope. Not good or bad, but wretched people. But even the most wretched will die if they don't know how to behave. You have been lucky, it just warned you." Well, I guess that's all the Professor needed to hear because he announces that he will just wait here until Stalker and Writer come back, made happy. Stalker says this would be impossible despite the fact that Professor has a little lunch packed for himself. Stalker says they all must go or he's calling off the trip and will bring them back home. Writer then asks Professor if he has come to his senses prompting Professor to tell Stalker to go ahead and throw his nut.

Next post: "Let's get metaphysical.. metaphysical.. "