As of this writing, the death toll rings in at over 150,000 people. In Thailand alone, 5,187 are dead, and 3,810 are missing.

The coastal towns of Thailand were favorite vacation spots for many Western and European visitors, and the area will flourish again when the tourists return. But for Northern Thailand – comparatively unscathed from the tidal wave – poverty still remains the norm.

In the mountainous province of Chiangmai, for instance, it’s not unusual for poor boys to dream about escaping their poverty by becoming one of the few, select stars of Muay Thai, or Thai kickboxing – much like adolescents in inner-city Chicago dream of playing professional basketball.

In Thailand, Muay Thai is often called “the science of eight limbs,” because practitioners use their entire body to subdue opponents. The hands, feet, elbows and knees work in harmony to punch and kick the adversary until he succumbs.

It’s a manly sport, requiring total athletic prowess and the extreme endurance of pain. It is a sport, says the Professional Muay Thai Association, unfit for women.

Their manly Thai world was turned upside down six years ago, however, when Parinya Charoenphol, a pre-operative male-to-female transgendered person, joined the rank of professional in that masculine and lethal sport. She was admired by many in Thailand for her courage, and despised by others for tarnishing the sport’s masculine image.

Parinya, affectionately nicknamed Nong Toom in Thailand, is the subject of a Thai biopic entitled Beautiful Boxer. In limited release in the US beginning on January 25, the film won the 2004 Grand Prix Award by an undisputed vote of the jury at the Brussels International Film Festival.

“It’s rare that all the jury members were so unanimous and passionate about the same film,” said the festival’s president, Marc Lobet.

Ironically, that film, one of the top-10 grossing movies in Thailand for 2003, almost never got made. Director Ekachai Uekrongtham initially pitched his studio three scripts: a romantic comedy, a heavy drama and Nong Toom's story.

The studio bosses wanted to make sure they could recoup their investment, so they chose the comedy. Comedies and action flicks are “box-office boffo” in Thailand. Luckily, the chairman’s decision was reconsidered when Ekachai and international movie distributors voiced their preference for Nong Toom’s story.

Page 1 / 2 / 3- Next