About two or three months ago I randomly remembered a quote from Stalker and realized that it was a quote from Laozi. I've been meaning to rewatch it since. I think I had seen Stalker twice before. Both times when I was an atheist. But now viewing the movie through a Daoist lense made me realize how essential the religious/spiritual side is to the movie. To the point where I can now say that I had never really understood what the movie was about before. I used to read the surface, but failed to dig deep. The main idea behind the film is the conflicting relationship between art, science and mysticism. Especially the inability of the former two to embrace the latter. The writer and the professor feel incomplete, and in their search of self-realization they decide to travel to the Zone. A place formed by something that fell out of the sky (obvious implication of the Divine). While I think the movie can be viewed through the lens of any religion, as long as it's the mystical approach and not fundamentalist, it lends itself best to the Daoist interpretation. One of the major concepts here is the deconstruction of desire. The writer questions its nature in the very beginning. The stalker recites a poem about the inability of the fulfillment of desires to bring contentment. The main object of interest of those who travel to the zone is the room that fulfills your desires. And yet the notion that this brings happiness is questioned. The stalker derives happiness from helping others with what he thinks is the attainment of happiness (through the fulfillment of desires), while himself having no desires. Why does he help them to essentially continue the self-deception? I think it's because a sage does not impose. He can help them get inside the zone, but he can't tell them what would make them happy. I think he also just wants them to encounter the Divine, regardless of their motivations (well as long as they're non-hostile). Water is a major motif in this movie, as it is in Daoism. Laozi teaches to be like water. To be still and soft and flexible. Not to resist, but instead to let through. Water dwells in low places. A sage must imitate water. In Wang Bi's terminology, move towards the Wu, the negative. The stalker's life is plagued with suffering. And thus he is blessed. The Zone punishes by giving. Rewards by taking. The stalker's teacher, the Porcupine, was punished with great wealth. The Stalker notes how the Zone's decisions on who to kill and who to spare have nothing to do with the concepts of good and evil. He also conveys that the Zone merely reflects the consciousness of the people that enter it. Thus it is clear that malicious intentions destroy their own hosts. This explains the tanks. This also explains why the Stalker told the writer to drop his gun. "Good weapons are instruments of fear; all creatures hate them. Therefore followers of Dao never use them." (Laozi, Feng & English translation). They refer to the Zone as the quietest place. In Daoism stillness and silence are considered among the most important conditions for a sage to strive for. Most importantly, I think this movie has just helped me to solve what I used to consider a paradox in Daoism. In Daoism empathy is considered one of the three treasures, and yet there are situations when to prevent other people's suffering one must seemingly go against the concept of Wu Wei (effortless action/non-action). Perhaps it is not the job of a sage to prevent suffering. Because without suffering there is no place for empathy. Preventing suffering would then be preventing empathy, thus going against the nature of the Dao. In the end of the movie, the stalker's wife says "without the suffering there wouldn't be happiness or hope." This is very much in line with the concept of Yin and Yang (or the Hermetic law of opposites). Where one complements the other. I think I now better understand chapter 5 of Laozi: "the sage is not kind: People are straw dogs to him" (Addis & Lombardo). In other translations they use the words "ruthless" or "impartial". But I think "not kind" conveys better the inherent sadness that has to do with non-involvement. Because it is not kind to allow suffering to happen. I think the black dog that they encounter in the Zone must represent the recognition of suffering. It approaches the Stalker through the water and then follows him through the rest of the film. But, honestly, I'm not sure. One thing that's clear is that his daughter is presented as a religious figure, and a rather Christian one visually. But she is the child of the Zone. Through the Christian lens one might interpret this as a Jesus parallel. But I think there's also a place for the interpretation of her as the fruit of self-realization or awareness. She views the world the same way the others view the Zone. I think this is a signifier of enlightenment. The physical manifestation of all these concepts mentioned above. It makes sense for her to be a child, as childlike perspective is a valued concept in Daoism. In fact, the -zi in Laozi, while originally meant "master", in modern Chinese means "child", and has contributed significantly to the medieval developments in the Daoist philosophy.