"The Wish Machine (screenplay). Option 2" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, summary

The Strugatsky brothers’ 1979 screenplay is a variation on the plot that inspired Andrei Tarkovsky’s cult film, "Stalker." The key feature of this text lies in its difference from the novella " Roadside Picnic ": here, Stalker is not a cynical artifact dealer, but a kind of holy fool who believes in miracles, and the Zone is presented not so much as a place of extraction as a spiritual testing ground, testing the innermost essence of a person.

Subsequently, based on these developments, the film "Stalker" was shot, which received the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival and became a recognized classic of world cinema.

Starting point

The action begins early on a winter morning in a poor, cluttered apartment. A stalker attempts to sneak out of the house, but is stopped by his wife. A heated argument erupts between the couple: the woman begs her husband not to return to his dangerous profession, reminding him of his prison sentences and his sick daughter. She offers him the money he’s saved for their child’s treatment, so long as he doesn’t risk himself. The stalker, exhausted by poverty and despair, rejects her pleas, declaring that "prison is better than this kind of life." He pushes his wife away and leaves the house, amid her curses and the cries of their awakened daughter.

At the appointed location, an all-night diner, Stalker meets the Professor, the scientist who hired him for the expedition. Soon, they pick up the third member of the expedition, the Writer, by car. The Writer is at a party in a luxurious mansion, philosophizing to the guests about the boredom of a world governed by the immutable laws of physics. The Writer is drunk and views the upcoming journey as entertainment or a way to relieve his creative block.

Breakthrough into the Zone

The group approaches the guarded perimeter. Taking advantage of the fog, Stalker speeds through the UN cordon, ignoring the guards’ machine-gun fire. Having lost their pursuers, the trio hides the car in the forest. They make the rest of the journey on foot and by handcar along abandoned railroad tracks.

During the journey, a dialogue ensues between the companions. The writer discusses how objective truth is boring, and how art and science are merely attempts to find meaning where it may not exist. He admits that he’s exhausted himself, and his creativity has become a torment catering to the consumerist tastes of the masses. The professor, meanwhile, maintains a detached demeanor, hinting at his scientific goals.

Having reached the edge of the safe zone, the travelers make camp. The stalker sternly instructs the travelers: there’s no room for complacency in the Zone; they must obey the guide unquestioningly. He takes the pistol from the Writer, explaining that weapons are useless and dangerous here, and discovers a poison ampoule sewn into the Professor’s collar, which perplexes the guide.

Path through anomalies

As an unnatural green sun rises, the group begins moving toward the center of the Zone. The surrounding area is deceptively calm: green hills, rusty equipment left over from a failed military operation. Stalker uses nuts with bandages attached to them to check the road for gravity traps — "mosquito patches" — and other anomalies.

Discipline in the group is weak. The Writer, unaware of the danger, tries to stray from the path, earning a blow to the back of the head from the Stalker. Soon they encounter an inexplicable phenomenon: the Writer suddenly begins to get wet without any rain, water streaming down his body. The Stalker orders everyone to lie down. Panics of fear give way to relief as the anomaly releases its victim.

Passing a landfill and old military fortifications, the travelers stop under a camouflage net. Here, the Stalker tells the story of Porcupine, a legendary stalker who reached the Wishing Room, gained riches, but hanged himself a week later. This story becomes the leitmotif of the entire journey: why does a person who has achieved what he desires commit suicide?

The swamp and the phone call

The next obstacle is a swamp with a toxic fog. The guide tries to find a safe ford, but the Professor, weighed down by a heavy backpack, falls into the muck. Stalker and Writer manage to pull him out with difficulty. The guide demands they drop the backpack, but the scientist fiercely resists, unwilling to part with his burden. Having escaped, the group continues on, amid mutual accusations and growing tension. Stalker admits he is going to the Zone to heal his crippled daughter, Monkey, who suffered from mutations. Writer, however, questions the sincerity of any human desire.

After passing through a deadly pipe where all life perishes (but this time it turns out to be "dormant"), the heroes find themselves in a strange room, reminiscent of a bunker or a command center. Chaos reigns, but the phones work. The Professor calls his colleague at the institute. During the conversation, the scientist’s true goal is revealed: he intends to destroy the Zone to prevent it from falling into the hands of villains or the military. His colleague calls him a killer of hope and predicts prison, but the Professor remains adamant.

At the threshold of the Room

The group finds itself at the final descent to the place where wishes come true. The stalker joyfully announces that the most terrifying trap — the "Meat Grinder" — has been defused ("dead") and the way is clear. However, none of the clients are in any hurry to proceed.

The writer, having analyzed the Porcupine’s story, comes to a terrifying conclusion: the Room grants not the wishes a person utters aloud or formulates in their thoughts, but those that constitute their true, often dark, essence. The Porcupine prayed for the return of his brother, whom he himself had destroyed in "The Meat Grinder," but received wealth because deep down he desired money. Realizing his own rotten nature, he could not bear the truth and hanged himself. The writer refuses to enter the Room, afraid to expose his own filth. He accuses the Stalker of being a fellow "bandit," and the result of his plea for his daughter could be monstrous.

At this moment, the Professor pulls a portable twenty-kiloton nuclear mine from his backpack. He and his colleagues assembled it to physically destroy the source of miracles, deeming it too dangerous for humanity.

Denouement

The stalker falls into despair. He rushes toward the Professor, trying to take the bomb away. For him, the Zone is the only place where there is hope, where the unfortunate can have a chance. He screams that he has nothing else, that the people outside the Zone only eat and drink, and here is the only refuge for faith. The stalker begs him not to destroy the miracle, even if he himself is unworthy of entry.

The confrontation ends unexpectedly. Driven by the Stalker’s words and his own inner breakdown, the Professor begins to disassemble the bomb. He rips out the wires and scatters the parts, abandoning his plan to destroy it. The sun sets, and the heroes remain in the darkness before the entrance, unable to enter or destroy it.

Epilogue

The final scene returns us to the same dive bar where it all began. The characters sit at the table, dirty and devastated. The writer launches into another discourse, this time about humanity’s sole purpose being the creation of works of art, selfless images of truth. The stalker counts his change to pay for the beer.

Stalker’s wife enters the café. Seeing her exhausted husband, she doesn’t start a scene, but tenderly invites him home. Sitting down at the table, she tells her husband’s companions about her life. She admits she knew what she was getting into, linking her fate with a "perpetual prisoner" and a death row inmate. Despite grief and fear, she never regretted her choice, because their life was filled with love and hope, without which existence would have been dull and meaningless.

The stalker, his wife, and his sick daughter leave together. The writer and the professor watch them go in silence, left alone with their unresolved questions and unfulfilled, but perhaps for the better, desires.