Beautiful boxer is a great trans-gender film, and I enjoy watching the film very much. Since it is based on true story, I can understand trans-gender people's mind and behavior more. The way of the film portrays is amazing, and Toom has perfectly shows his struggle of being a professional boxer or a "real" woman. Toom has wanted to become a girl since he was young, and it is surprised to see that he could play boxing in such a professional level. Since boxing is extremely manly sport, it is hard to imagine a man who is feminine in the ring. However, Toom does not care how other people's point of view and decide to wear make-up in the ring. In addition, he has become a famous boxer in Thai. The film is trying to tell people that do not give up easily for your dream and desire. In addition; society should respect trans-gender people's ability and right. This film is recommended for everyone since the film is based on true story, and people should learn how to accept and respect the people such as Toom in the society.

I had not heard of this movie before I saw it, so I didn't really have any expectations, however I was very pleasantly surprised. Most movies that portray transgendered people or transvestites lean heavily on the use of stereotypes to portray characters. While the movie does little to show the difference between these types of people and doesn't really even It is also nice to see a movie which from a non-western culture take on these types of issues.The film is about a Thai boy Parinya Charoenphol, also known as Nong Toom who, from a very young age knew that he was not truly a boy. The very gentle Toom had, for most of his life knew that his sex and his gender are very different, but had no real way of affording an operation to make himself feel like a complete person. When he first winds up in a Muay Thai match, Toom is very afraid of getting injured, however a lucky hit makes him win.With the cash prize in hand and with a new found confidence gained by his ability to defend himself Toom decides to join a Muay Thai training camp. He has several initial troubles as he feels like the only women in a group surrounded by men. However he is able to get some help in secretly expressing his feminism from the wife of the camps coach. The coach Pi Chart eventually finds out Toom's secret after he has begun to win a few fights. To his surprise Toom is encouraged to keep wearing makeup, even during matches.Toom had begun fighting to free his family from financial burdens and to earn enough money to get a sex change operation. He's transvistism gave him an advantage with the audience, they may have laughed at him at first, but once he won so many matches, many of which ended in knock outs, the crowds loved him and his antics. Some accused Toom of not being a real transgendered person, but it appears that she was accepted on mass, before and after her surgery.This movie boldly speaks out on gender issues, and it is treated very differently than it would be in the West. Yes, there is some comedy in the actions and dressing of Toom when he cross dresses. However, his sexuality and gender isn't part of the comedy of the movie as it would probably be in an American movie. It is addressed more as a fact and in a more mature way.

This movie was aired on channel SBS in Australia, and their current catch-phrase is "The most amazing stories are true". The value of this movie is that it is a more interesting, and less sentimental story than could ever have been imagined. I don't mean to detract from the lead acting with this statement, which is also fantastic.*Beautiful Boxer* marries the two strongly Thai elements of kick-boxing and transvestitism. I know nothing about kick-boxing and it seems I know less about transvestitism than I thought, as IMDb tells me there is no such word. Therefore it's kind of like making an Australian movie about beer and kangaroos, but somehow without clichés. Hard to imagine and I imagine, hard to do.Toom leaves his farming family to become a monk (fair enough - at least he'll probably not starve at the monastery). But he struggles with what is considered the easiest of the ten tenets of being a junior monk. He then turns to kick-boxing, which he excels at because he's always had to defend himself from bullies. This then becomes a source of income for his family, and for hopefully, one day, his sex change operation. Meanwhile, he has a relationship with his mother which again, could not have been invented. Nor could the trajectory of his boxing career or the fate of his coach, Chart. I probably should be saying *her* at this point, as it is obvious that Toom is male in biology only.Which is where I struggle with this movie. I always thought that your body helped inform who you are. Sometimes I think your body is all of it. After all, isn't whether you feel like a man or a woman determined by chemicals in your brain, or neurons, or something physical like that?Anyway, Toom's message is to be true to yourself; to your heart, however you want to figure that out.

I almost did not believe that this was a true story. I didn't know that this movie would go into that much detail about Toom. The movie followed him from a small boy to full grown man or should I say woman. Also, I did not know that Thai boxing was losing its appeal to the Thailand audience. Now Thai boxing is back in full swing worldwide thanks to Toom. It was very interesting to go into rural and urban Thailand to see the vast difference between the two. I was required to view this movie as part of my class, but in all reality it proved to be one I will remember. Just an overall good movie. This movie has both action for the guys and beauty for the girls so this one might even be a good date movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see the REAL Thailand the country, the people, and the culture or simply a tearjerker that packs a punch.