Beautiful Boxer
Director: Ekachai Uekrongtham
Year: 2004
Starring: Asanee Suwan, Sorrapong Chatree, Orn-Anong
Panyawong, Kyoko Inoue
Time: 118 minutes
The tagline of “He fights
like a man so he can be a woman” for this film is certainly intriguing but
might also raise expectations of a potentially trashy film with elements
of exploitation. The film is anything but that though – instead it is a wonderfully
warm and inspiring tale of a person simply discovering who he is and then
having the courage to face the world. The film is based on a true story that
garnered a great deal of publicity a few years ago and was even covered by
the New York Times. In Thailand kickboxing is the national sport – practiced
in every city, town and village around the country and filled with tradition
and macho pride. Thus the story of a cross dressing kickboxer who came into
the match wearing lipstick and mascara and who declared to the media that
he thought of himself as a woman riveted the nation and created lots of controversy.
The film covers the life
of Nong Toom from early childhood to his/her decision to have it snipped
off. The portrait of Nong is painted with such gentle and sympathetic colors
that it is impossible not to completely side with him in his need to explore
his gender yearnings. Soft spoken and intensely sweet, there are times you
simply want to hug him and tell him that it is going to be alright. One thing
that the film perhaps wisely stays away from is really delving into Nong’s
sexual or romantic needs – there is never a hint of a lover or physical sex
and that may be a bit of a cop out considering the subject it explores, but
doing so would have bled the film of its almost fairy tale innocence.
Though the film certainly
has a number of Muay Thai matches and they are quite well done (all the fighters
as well as the actor (Asanee Suwan) who plays Nong Toom are legitimate Muay
Thai boxers), it is much more than that and much more than simply a story
of a man who wants to be a woman – it takes in Thai traditions, family relations,
religion, friendships and betrayals and finally tolerance and acceptance
in a world that has so little of it these days. It is also simply a great
sports film about a person who pushes himself to be the best he can be. Performances
are excellent throughout - in particular from his understanding coach (Sorrapong
Chatree), his loving mother (the ex-Miss Thailand Orn-Anong Panyawong) and
from Asanee of course. According to one Internet article I came across, the
real Nong Toom is now a singer and according to that writer a very bad one.
But I wouldn't be the one to tell her!
My rating for this film:
8.0
(The real Nong Toom)