Page - 45 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

colour) by the transgression of this border, renewed in the presence of the seem- ingly sentient Zone. Sound is also used to signify the transition of entering the Zone, which is physi- cally achieved by driving a trolley train along the tracks from the military perimeter (see fig. 3). At first the viewer is presented with the natural sounds of the trolley’s wheels clacking against the rails, but slowly this sound is blended with synthetic music. The effect is a gradual transformation, rather than sudden change. As Ste- fan Smith describes it, this “sound design leads to an ambiguity of time and space that makes the scene so profoundly effective”.14 At some imperceptible moment the naturalistic clanking of the trolley is transformed into something completely dif- ferent, just as at an equally imperceptible moment the reality of the world changes and the Zone is realised. Crucially, Tarkovsky returns to the sound and presence of trains at vital moments in the film, so that it becomes a kind of leitmotif. The three companions use a loco- motive for cover as the Stalker smuggles them into the Zone, just before they take the trolley train the rest of the way. Most importantly, though, Tarkovsky uses the 14 Smith 2007, 46. Fig. 2: Film still “The meat grinder”, Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR 1979), 01:50:33. 44 | James Lorenz www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 37–52