THE IRON LADIES (Sa tree lex)
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Strand Releasing Director: Youngyooth Thongkonthum Writer: Youngyooth Thongkonthum Cast: Jesdaporn Pholdee, Sahaphap Tor, Ekachai Buranapanit, Giorgio Maiocchi, Chaicharn Nimpulsawasdi, Kokkorn Benjathikoon, Shiriohana Hongsopon Screened at: Loews Screening Room NYC 8/22/01
Contrary to what some scientists may tell you, time travel is indeed possible. Ask any world traveler. If you're from the first world, say from Beverly Hills, take a flight to the Moroccan city of Fez and you've gone back in time about 2,000 years to Biblical days. Donkeys compete with people shrouded with robes for space on cobblestone streets. Too hot for Morocco? If you're in New York in September, take a subway or bus ride to the Quad theater to see Youngyooth Thongkonthun's film "The Iron Ladies," known to the native Thai people as "Sa tree lex."
I don't mean to say that Thailand is a "developing" nation like Morocco because in fact that western ally is one of the southeast Asian economic miracles. But the movie which was put in the can just last year based on a recent true story could easily make a viewer think that this picturesque country is living in the 1950's just like the one visited by the American brother and sister transported from the recent decade magically back to that time in the movie "Pleasantville." How so? The movie deals with what we in the United States must consider thoroughly passe unless we were hiding under that proverbial rock or hiding in the jungle like that brave Japanese soldier who didn't know the war was over for a while. What subject is that? Gays. Oh, it's not that gay themes are out of style. There's lots of room for motifs centering on nontraditional sexual roles. But comedies dealing with guys making the most elemental fun at the expense of transvestites, transsexuals, lesbians, gays, and miscellaneous manners of effeminate men are simply not funny. They're pathetic. Maybe the Thai people go for them, I dunno. I haven't been there and I don't know much about Thai culture except for the fact that you're not supposed to cross your legs when you're seated there because it's an insult to point the bottom of your shoe toward your partner in conversation. But how can the producers thinks there's a market for this sort of hopelessly dated, hashed-over stuff in any culture whose sexual politics is slightly more sophisticated than that of the Taliban?
The story features an assortment of picked-upon folks who do not conform to the traditional boy-girl relationships, making them a threat to every red-blooded Thai citizen who hopes to be a grandfather or grandmother one day. Chai (Jesdaporn Pholdee), Mon (Sahaphap Tor), Wit (Ekachai Buranapanit), Nong (Giorgio Maicchi), Jung (Chaicharn Nimpulsawasdi), and Pia (Kokkorn Benjathikoon) are in their early twenties, I'd guess, and they are an assorted lot of outcasts because they are the aforementioned transsexuals, transvestites and gays. They are about to redeem themselves, to become heroes, through the game of volleyball which is, strangely enough, the second-most popular sort in Thailand (I think). When the straight coach takes himself out of the running in favor of a short, bespectacled lesbian mentor (Shiriohana Hongsopon), the film follows a trajectory as predictable as, oh, say, Adam Sandler's "Waterboy." Will the Iron Ladies as they call themselves beat the macho men who laugh at them? Take three guesses. Will they beat them 3-0 or 3-2? Duh. Will they beat them in the final game 15-13 or 15-0? Uh, golly...That's tough. Will there be brawls in the bar and will at least one of the gays be upset about breaking a fingernail? Will the concluding music boldly indicate that these young heroes, who were "born that way, we never had a choice" be tolerated by Thai people from Chiang Rai to Bang Lamung? (Hey, did I spoil the really clever twists for you? Sorry.)
Not Rated. Running time: 104 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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