The Invisible Fight
OFFICIAL
SYNOPSIS
A young soldier stationed at the USSR-China border becomes obsessed with kung fu and seeks martial arts teachers at the most unlikely of places: the local Eastern Orthodox monastery. With a skeptical mother, a rival monk, and a budding love interest pulling him in different directions, his road is long, winding, and full of kick-ass adventures.
English subtitles.
REVIEW
If you’re up for something offbeat and silly, you might just love this film. It’s the Napoleon Dynamite of Orthodox films. Set in the Soviet Union, the hero (antihero really) is not at all religious but he’s fascinated with kung fu (of the sort you see in movies, not so much real world martial arts), and finds that Orthodox monks are in fact the ultimate kung fu masters. Kung fu becomes a kind of metaphor for holiness, and if you’re open to it, this film has some beautiful messages.
If you don’t love offbeat things and you’re hoping for a deeply reverent and serious film, pass on this.
Personally, I love it. This may actually be one of my all-time favorite films ever made.
The Elder, a kung fu master at work.
BYZANTINE BRIDGE?
Can I watch this with my non-Orthodox friends? Will they get it?
Yes.
There’s no need to be Orthodox to enjoy this film — it really just requires off-beat taste. And who knows, maybe it will intrigue them?
