Nähtamatu võitlus

I just watched "The Invisible Fight", a 2023 movie from Estonia. The Wikipedia page sums it up pretty well:

"Feeling alienated by conformist Soviet society, heavy metal fan Raphael encounters an underground society of Eastern Orthodox monks who practice kung fu."

It is absolutely a comedy.

It is absolutely metal.

It is absolutely reverent about Orthodox monastic spirituality, kung fu, and Black Sabbath.

It is absolutely awesome.

Whatever mess of contradictions I've had bouncing around inside of me my whole life didn't feel so out of whack watching this. I thought maybe the spirituality would be just a set dressing in something so stylized but it just wasn't. Real depth cut through the shtick. Black Sabbath's "The Wizard" is played throughout the whole movie and a character quotes the lyrics to "Lord of this World". There's flying monks.

Someone else out there needs this movie in their life.

This movie could have skated by as an Estonian "Kung Fury" knockoff, but it only seems that way from the trailer.

Despite all the pervasive shenanigans that make up the bulk of the runtime, it remains surprisingly accurate to Orthodox Monastacism and Christian Philosophies, to the point that my Priest (who adored this film and seen it at least three times) is CONVINCED that at least a few of the brothers in the movie must have come from Mt. Athos. It's a delight.

The film is on Youtube: If you like Heavy Metal, Spirituality or unapologetically goofy feel-good movies, this is well worth your time!

The two previous reviews of 1/10 and 10/10 is a perfect representation of how I felt about this movie. The cinematography was a lot of fun. The choreography was a lot of fun. The outfits, the location, the editing... all fun. Even the 1 Black Sabbath song that played on repeat was a lot of fun. Everything was fun. In fact, I loved almost every single scene... just not watching them sequentially without an opportunity to breathe. And this movie has no intentions of letting you breathe. 7/10 feels simultaneously too low and too high. So does every other number. The film is a wild ride. Enjoy the experience for what it is. Glad I did.

This is probably the worst and most despicable movie I have seen in my entire life. The actors are great and that's a credit to them when put in such a dire situation. The plot could have been great. The location is nice and the scenography as well. But the scenarist shouldn't be allowed to work anymore as long as humanity as a cent of respect for itself. The characters story are poorly written lapalissades. Don't get me started on the women characters that sets up back centuries. Try to see girls as something else than sex objects, mother or crones. Go see Melchior or litterally any other movie if you want to have a good time.

No pun intended - the movie is quite something. I have to admit the way it started I was expecting more a Shaw Brothers movie ... but that is just the intro ... it becomes a completely different beast after ... although I reckon you could see the Orthodox priests as a substitute Shaolin teacher/school kind of thing.

One thing is for sure: the humor is in the eye of the beholder ... or viewer ... and that is you. So if you like a movie to be silly ... like really silly, all the way through ... this is for you. There is some action, there is some tension and there is fighting ... but your reaction to the jokes will be way more important than anything else ... also if you had no idea who Black Sabbath is ... or was ... well you will know after watching this ... great song!