The Invisible Fight by Rainer Sarnet
The Strangest Estonian Black Metal Kung Fu Movie You’ll See This Year!
On Friday, February 23rd, the Williams Center will be screening the newest Rainer Sarnet film: "The Invisible Fight." Humor and sanctity, Black Sabbath and Gregorian chants, rebellion and humility—the film binds these elements together like an orthodox iourodivy singing, an earnestly silly song of worship that extols anything that can be holy.
"If my film were to carry any message, it would be an invitation to be more joyful." – An interview with Rainer Sarnet by Tristan Priimägi
"The Invisible Fight" contains a blend of elements that are seemingly incompatible—kung-fu, Black Sabbath, the Soviet era, and the Orthodox church. How did this mix arise and become a cohesive movie?
It all started when I brought my friend in the hospital a book called "Not of This World." It contained real-life stories of two Orthodox monks who both died young. The gift was meant to be taken with black humor—we are both fans of decadence. My friend proposed an idea: to make a movie about monks. So, he gave me a present in return. The story that stood out for me in the book spoke about a young monk, Father Rafael, who was active in the Soviet Union during the seventies, at the monastery in Pechory. I began to explore the era, and it turned out that many young Russian monks were ex-hippies. There was a resistance to the material world, and, as hippies, Orthodox monks wore their hair long, wore black clothes, and there were skulls in the catacombs. You might say that their universe seemed quite rock'n'roll to me. The idea to use the music of Black Sabbath developed from there, and to start the arc of the protagonist with some kind of rebellious act. For him, the catalyst is outer coolness, like it is with youth. Exploring Father Rafael's life, it turned out that he had served in the army near the Chinese border, his military unit was attacked by Chinese bandits, and he alone survived. At that point, the thought of adding kung fu emerged: Rafael sees the Chinese use it while in the army and is inspired to learn.
Just as religion, martial arts were forbidden in the Soviet Union. So, it's a sort of double rebellion. I also chanced upon a website called "Death to the World," run by an ex-punk Orthodox monk. There was a line: the last true rebellion is the monastery. So, kung fu, Black Sabbath, and the monastery are joined together by rebellion. My contact with Black Sabbath happened in school, thanks to my nephew who had all the Sabbath records and barely listened to anything else. He tried to write similar poetry, containing hell, demons, and old graveyards. Making this film, I asked an Orthodox priest if it's okay to use Black Sabbath in this context, and he answered that Ozzy sings about the same religious things—Ozzy is a religious man.
Watch this film at the Williams Center in Rutherford, New Jersey, on Friday, February 23rd, at 8 pm.
Tickets are $15. Click here to buy.
