The Fist of the Condor

Ernesto Díaz Espinoza’s fourth feature film with Marko Zaror soars.

Poster image courtesy of Well Go USA.

Chile isn’t entirely known for its contributions to martial arts cinema but with Fist of the Condor’s recent release and acclaim, there really should be a lot more. In doing some (light) research on how many Chilean martial arts films there actually are, three were found. They have all been directed by Ernesto Díaz Espinoza: Kiltro, Redeemer, and Condor. All three of them star Marko Zaror. Espinoza and Zaror have a martial arts monopoly on their hands, and if Condor is anything to go by, they’re extremely capable ones. Across Espinoza’s films with Zaror, there’s a consistent reverence towards each diverse fighting style. As is the case for Fist of the Condor the titular form is steeped in the immediacy of self-defense against oppressors by the Incas. Hidden away is a secretive manual illustrating the legendary Fist of the Condor technique among other forms that reveal secrets to overriding the idea of how the human body is expected to operate, creating new limits for a more weightless form of function and gravity-defying stunts.

Marko Zaror as El Guerrero in Fist of the Condor. Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

Tucked away at the top of a mountain is the School of the Condor, a semi-secretive estate that houses its students who desire to learn the ways of self-defense. Zaror plays two roles on camera here, one as El Guerrero and another as his twin brother who defiled him and the school in the past and has since retreated elsewhere in the mountains with a more weaponized approach to the way of the condor. His right hand assassin is sent to find and annihilate Guerrero to procure the hidden manual of the Fist of the Condor to then return it to his master. But Guerrero has a reputation. He roams the land, challenging opponents as they arise and has never been defeated. As far as the film’s plot goes this is pretty much it. But it opens the film up to a far more introspective approach, split into multiple chapters.

Two warriors face off near the cliffs by the sea. Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

It’s a very episodic style that Condor takes on which can be predicted as tedious. However its small bite-sized chapters gradually lead into larger ones, until it starts to match the scope for which it’s aiming; sections closer to the meat of the film start to offer the format inspirations that blossom from its influences. Lone Wolf and Cub, Zatoichi, and Sleepy Eyes of Death are written all over El Guerrero’s self-assigned code and training ethics as he walks the warrior’s path. His teacher Mujer Condór tells him that the warrior can ultimately choose the path they want to take, and Guerrero takes it in an incredibly restrictive form of piety. He leaves his wife and family behind for training, roaming afterwards to face his brother after he was disgraced by him and the school they both attended.

Gina Aguad as Mujer Condór. Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

El Guerrero faces down a surprise opponent in the woods. Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

The choreography is also very much a highlight (directed by Zaror himself) and even though fights are spaced out quite a lot each one brings an intensity to the predication of combat & conflict that isn’t exclusively relegated to the freshness of the fighting styles used. The philosophy is equally fascinating as the fights, which is an opportunity often squandered by many new martial arts films eager to showcase its very much complex fight coordination but fail to provide any emotional or philosophical weight behind the action. For Fist of the Condor it lends a balance easily appropriated to the two wings of a condor, for example. Both are needed for balance and can take on either very similar or very diverse challenges in flight and movement, but both are required. Zaror manages to personify some admittedly simplified images of good and evil towards a more two-dimensional view of this dichotomy but it works in a way that allows room for growth or audience projection into these two brothers.

El Guerrero. Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

The film is often quiet but never skips an opportunity to surprise or engage. It knows the path its on like the back of its hand, much like Guerrero in his calculations of how much “voltage” his body needs to replenish and recharge. And this path is one that becomes so much more compelling each step you take down it. At the head of the film Condor is titled as a first part of a larger story so loose ends stay loose by the credits. More El Guerrero is on the way and the Condor films should be on every martial arts cinema fan’s radar.

Eyal Meyer as Kalari, who hunts El Guerrero for the manual. Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

Fist of the Condor has seen a couple exclusive screenings at Alamo Drafthouse with Marko Zaror in attendance (at varying locations) on behalf of Well Go USA, but it makes its streaming premiere on Hi-Yah! today, April 7th. It comes highly recommended readers try the service out to give the film a watch. Clicking the link will bring you to their 7-day free trial if you don’t want to subscribe right off the bat. Check out the trailer below: