Bend It Like Beckham

Bend It Like Beckham; A story of dedication? Courage? Conflict? Individuality? Comedy with a hint of drama? None of those words or phrases seem quite adequate to describe this movie, however if you combine them all you’ll be somewhat closer.

Now, you definitely do not have to be a soccer/football fan to like this movie. The plot and story line behind it digs deeper than just some sport. It could apply to multiple things really. I kind of dislike the title because I think it puts a lot of potential fans off. Honestly, the only reason I decided to watch this movie was because it was late at night and I was bored out of my mind, on top of that I like David Beckham. So, I spent the next 2 hours watching this film..

Gurinder Chadha directs the film and she does an incredible job. Its very believeable and natural, not some jazzed up Hollywood drama. The film tells the story of two very different british girls who both share common goals. One of them is named Jess, and she is a British-Indian girl with very tradtional parents devoted to Sikhism. They have no intention of Jess ever being involed in any sports due to the fact that they’ve been taught its not approperiate. They basically have her future mapped out for her. Their heart is in the right place, but unfortunetly Jess’ happiness wasn’t given much consideration.

The other characters name is Jules(played by Keira Knightley) . Shes a typical British teenager, however she has her own conflicts with her parents. Her mother has strongly opinionated views of her daughter, and disapproves of her sportiness. She is also very concenred about her relationship with Jess and the clothes Jules wears, due to the fact that she associates them both with lesbianism. At one point in the movie Jules mom overhears a conversation between the two girls at the wrong time which truly does make them out to be lesbians. Her mother however didn’t confrotn Jules on this issue and instead discussed it with her father, who didn’t appear as concerned.

Jess was invited to play on a soccer/football team by Jules, and she does. However she has to do this in secret so that her parents can’t find out. She pretends to have a job and claims to be at work when she is really playing sports. Both girls are extremely talented and their coach (whom they are both close to) talks about an American scout coming to a game. As was expected however, Jess can’t keep the secret from her parents forever, and they do discover what she has been up to. The forbid her from playing, and Jess is faced with a difficult descion. Please her family and follow ancient tradition, or go after her dreams?

I won’t spoil any more of the plot for you, but I will tell you that it’s a very inspiring movie that I would recommend for anyone to see. I like the movies portrayal of teenage problems, they seem so much more realistic in this film than in others. The only ~mildly~ disappointing thing about the movie was the fact that David Beckham wasn’t in it. =]