Biggest Elvis: 8

Elvis lives again as symbol of the American character in this insightful, entertaining fable set in the Philippines of the early 1990s, the final years of the U.S. military presence at Subic Bay. Failed English professor Ward Wiggins finds his true calling as the senior of a trinity of Elvis impersonators that becomes the hottest act in Olongapo, the nearest town to the naval base. Chester Lane portrays the youthful Elvis, his brother Albert the more worldly ""Dude"" Elvis of the movie years and Wiggins the ""Biggest Elvis,"" whose heartbreak and tragic fate are apparent in each mournful refrain and every gyration of his sweaty, bespangled bulk. Ward does not think of their act as imitation or shtick, but as an extrapolation to spiritual heights the original could never achieve. ""We went way beyond him. We crossed borders he never traveled, lived in a time he never saw, played in places he couldn't picture.'' Indeed, Biggest Elvis becomes something of a religious figure among the local people and the vivacious bar girls of ""Graceland."" But while he has some success in improving these people's lives, there are powerful, destructive forces at work beyond Biggest Elvis's ken. Kluge (Eddie and the Cruisers) tells his story through revolving first-person narratives in the voices of the Elvises and others, providing a nuanced look at U.S. imperialism--Americans' good-natured exploitation and Filipinos' ambivalent responses--and at more transcendent issues of faith and destiny. Eschewing the empty kitsch of some other Elvis invocations, Kluge fashions a resonant, often poignant tale full of humor and, ultimately, hope. (Aug.)