I will fully admit that I love cheesy movies from the '80s and early '90s and my favorite has to be "Strictly Ballroom." This is one of the first movies directed by Baz Luhrmann, the director of "Moulin Rouge," and I actually couldn't sit through "Moulin Rouge."

The reason I bring up this movie is that Luhrmann, even when showing the Latinos in the movie as living basically in the slums of New Zealand, is still able to show some respect for the culture of the characters he is representing.

And even though this is one of my favorite movies of all time, I still have problems with the portrayl of women in it. The female lead, Fran, begins the movie as, let's face it, an ugly girl with frizzy hair, huge glasses and acne. As the movie progresses she loses the glasses, her skin clears up and her hair smooths out. As all of these things happen the main male lead, Scott, falls in love with Fran.

I've always seen this as Luhrmann showing that the woman must be physically perfect for the man to fall in love with her. I know some people would say that it's Scott's love that makes Fran become beautiful, but I've never been able to see it that way.