Inside the Zone

This is the largest chapter in the book and takes a closer look at the mysterious ineffable Zone that exists at the center of the film’s narrative. What is the Zone, and are we in it, is the central question posed by the chapter, and brings into conversation a larger framework of film theory, including analyses from thinkers like Gilles Deleuze, Søren Kierkegaard, and Slavoj Žižek among others. The film examines the speculative space of the Room, and what the prospect of its power: the ability to grant the greatest inner desire of its occupants. Is this power real? The film plays with this question, along with imagery of potential speculative radiation consequences of the nuclear age, with careful allusions to Soviet nuclear disasters of the time.