Raphael (Ursel Tilk), the poseur metalhead at the center of Rainer Sarnet’s subversively earnest comedy “The Invisible Fight,” set in 1970s Estonia, swaggers around flaunting a golden cross and fumbling kung fu kicks over a Black Sabbath soundtrack. To modern audiences, he’s just some doofus. But back in the U.S.S.R. — which, at various times, outlawed Eastern martial arts, Western rock music, and religion — he’s a threat to the state.
Once, kids like Raphael were mocked on propaganda posters and locked in psychiatric hospitals. “Everything cool is banned in the Soviet Union,” he huffs. And so Raphael ditches the pastel conformity of mainstream Communist society for a secretive chop-socking Orthodox monastery where black-frocked monks fling pelmeni like throwing stars and make we’re-not-worthy genuflections in a catacomb of skulls.
This political context is vital to appreciate the rebellion underneath Sarnet’s romp; otherwise, it’s easy to dismiss it as merely a goofy riff on the Shaw Brothers Studios’ landmark Hong Kong hit “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin,” which likewise followed a novice’s hard-earned spiritual and gymnastic growth. Of course, it is that, too, with Sarnet seizing onto over-the-top genre tropes like dramatic zooms and sound effects that cling and clang whenever someone blinks.
But the film’s heart is in the sincere moments where our hero is humbled by his own ignorant zeal. Here, balancing vodka shots on your toes is easy — what’s hard is the daily practice of sacrifice and love. And for wuxia fans unconvinced by the shift from Buddhism to the Bible, Sarnet inserts a reading of Matthew 14:26 to remind us that walking on water is a skill shared by both Jet Li and Jesus.
The Invisible Fight
Not rated. In Estonia and Russian, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes. In theaters.
