The Iron Ladies (2000)

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

"The Iron Ladies" ("Satree Lek") is just one of those type of comedies that will stick with you once you've seen it for the first time. It is a wonderful underdog story.The story is about a team of gay, transsexual and ladyboys participating in the 1996 Thai national championship volleyball. They participate against all odds, having everything stacked against them, from a male dominated sport, narrow-minded and sexist players on other teams and even on the volleyball committee.Despite this being a comedy, there there aren't a lot of scenes that will have you spilling your drink from laughing, but there is, in turn, heaps of situations that will make you smile and feel good. It is indeed a comedy about acceptance and overcoming odds even when stacked against you. And being based on an actual real story just makes it all the more better and has a bigger impact.The characters in the movie are lovable, funny and very real. And they are so well portrayed by the cast, that you just delve right into the story, the characters and their problems, successes and failures right away.I remember watching this movie back in the mid-2K's approximately and found it enjoyable back then. And having finally gotten around to purchasing both part 1 and 2 from Amazon in 2013, it was indeed a joyous revisit to the movie, and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to watching part 2."The Iron Ladies" is well worth a watch for many reason; be it for the love of Asian cinema, be it for the love and support of gays/lesbians/transgendered everywhere, be it for the love of volleyball, be it for the love of a great movie, be it for the love of great acting, the list just goes on and on.Thumbs up from this reviewer and a definite 7 out of 10 star rating.

When he fails to make the volleyball team Mon suspects it is because he is gay – a position not helped by the very loud presence of his drag queen boyfriend Jung. They sign up for the local state team and are good enough for new coach Bee to pick them alongside the usual tall, butch players. However captain Mann refuses to play with "fags" and quits the team – taking all the strongest players with him. Without a squad to draw from, Bee listens to Mon's suggestion that they rebuild the team from their friends – who mostly happen to be gay like them.With the sort of plot that you don't associate with the Thailand market, I thought this was worth a look despite the fact that I prefer Thai films with minimal dialogue simply because I find it a rather grating language to have to listen to for any length of time. Regardless I quite enjoyed it although you should know that it is neither as original nor as funny as some of the other reviewers seem to think it is. The plot is the usual "underdogs" sports story with the twist of the gay characters – the latter being the main thrust of the film as there is actually quite few "big game" moments on the way to the climax. Part of the problem for me is that most of the characters never went beyond the level of caricature and it was only one or two scenes where I felt the film had something interesting to say or show me. For the rest of it the queen clichés are enjoyable enough but did occasionally grate on me. The "to thine own self be true" stuff is OK but hardly that clever or different – par for the genre course really, all this film has done is put makeup on it to make it appear a bit fresher.In terms of laughs the film is amusing but rarely hilarious. This may be partly down to me not liking the queen stereotypes that much but I think it is mostly down to the material not being that strong. The cast are pretty good regardless and at least seem to be having fun but I think the lack of a "big game" moment might be something to do with the majority of them not actually being able to play. They help the comedy be consistent at least with their delivery and it is not their fault if the film rarely goes deeper than that.So an amusing genre film then but not a great deal more than that. The story and characters are serviceable without the beauty or touching stuff that the genre delivered in pieces such as Babe. Different enough to be worth a look but just don't expect it to be any different from American "be yourself" and "sports underdog" genre/cliché films just because it comes from Thailand.

I was shocked to learn at the end of the film that it was based on a true story. To me it seemed like a cross between the Bad News Bears or the Mighty Ducks and To Wong Fu (NOT Priscilla, Queen of the Desert): losers transformed by sports & teamwork into winners, with an extreme overlay of camp. I say not Priscilla, because the characters seeemed more like caricatures than real people, and the film had all those cheap shots and facile manipulations that I associate with Hollywood product. I can definitely understand that other viewer's negative reaction to the femmy sterotypes. That said, the film does exhibit high spirits, preaches tolerance, and for those with a taste for such "delights", there's plenty of kitsch and bad pop music.

finally a movie, not only based on a real story, but also full of humor of a worldclass, showing that comedy is a genre that has always been ignored by the academy, and that humor is not something made in the usa. The typical american humor which often is NOT funny gets here an example that humor can be simple and touching at the same time. This movie also shows that we no longer have to look for the usa to see a good movie. The USA has always ignored good movies, and still does at the Osacrs every year. A terrible movie as 'cast away' or Gladiator gets all the credits where great movies like Himalaya, Village of dreams, Unagi, Billy Elliot, and others should win. Luckely the public outside the USA does understand that there is more than the typical us movies with always the same storyline: someones gets killed, in between there is time for some sex or a simple kiss, curses and faul language has to do the rest. But that's definately not it. Iron ladies is a film that touches the heart, shows us to have respect for everyone's lifestyle and no longer ignore that people, gay, lesbian, transsexual are all likes us, but it shows that making a good movie can be done without dollars and hollywood studio's.