My take

It is a highly literal & metaphorical, not to mention wordy, exploration of the dying of the last illusion. Its cynicism & bleakness might seem over-drawn, but then we're not living in the last throes of the dying Soviet social experiment. People had actually bought in to it, and were appalled at its failures. Some less so, but the disappointment went round.

Another irony - this was made within a decade of the creation of a new 'zone' around Chernobyl.

It was a hard watch for me, a slog, but I think that was part of the intended journey.

The Stalker's (the wavering true believer's) Prayer :

“Let everything that's been planned come true. Let them believe. And let them have a laugh at their passions. Because what they call passion actually is not some emotional energy, but just the friction between their souls and the outside world. And most important, let them believe in themselves. Let them be helpless like children, because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it's tender and pliant. But when it's dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death's companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win.”

It's not all bunk.