Bend it Like Beckham

Bend it Like Beckham is obviously about football. If you don’t know who David Beckham is, get out from under the rock you live in and pay even the smallest amount of attention to the most popular sport in the world and you’ll undoubtedly hear about him. Not that Beckham is the best footballer out there, but he sure as heck knows how to market himself. Basically he’s the most fameous football player ever. He now plays for Real Madrid, although he spent a long time with Manchester United. But that’s enough about him. Why? Because this movie is about football, but it isn’t actually about Beckham.

The story actually follows a Indian/British teenager named Jesminder. All she wants to do is play football on the local women’s team with her friend Juliette but her traditionalist parents forbid it, leading to a series of entertaining cultural hijinks as Jes sneaks off and joins the team anyways. The story is sweet and told from the heart. The football action is good, but the story is really about the clashing of modern urban British culture with the more traditional Indian customs. It’s a story about girls growing up and a really nice realistic story about finding your place in the world. There even a very sweet cross cultural love story mixed in.

There’s not much else to say here. The plot isn’t complicated, but that’s a good thing; it works. This is a character driven story, and the characters all feel very real. They have real concerns and deal with real issues. The story is very sweet and its no surprise to me this film appeals to both men and women. It’s a great story that hits home, working on many levels.

This is a drama, the look is decent but nothing too novel. I was impressed with the music and thought the football sequences were shot very eloquently. Other than an overall pleasant and warm tone though, the film didn’t play too much on its look. That seemed perfectly appropriate to me though and let me concentrate on the story all the more.

This film being a story about characters relies heavily on the performances of its actors. The lead character of Jesminder is played very aptly by Parminder K. Nagra, She works so well in this role, probably because she strikes me a similar to the character. No I’m not stupidly believing that she is really a footballer, or has to deal with traditionalist parents, I have no clue. But sometime in her life she must have had to deal with the cultural clash of Indian culture and British culture. She understands where the character comes from because, being an ethnic minority she has had to face it in her life. I’m really looking forward to seeing more from this girl as she really delivered heartfelt and very ‘true’ feeling work.

Jesminder’s best friend, plays the other focus of the film. Keira Knightley brings Juliette to the screen with the poise of a veteran actor. I really enjoyed her performance although I was slightly dazzled by her real world looks. She, like the other lead actor here, John Rhys-Meyers (the love interest and their football coach) gave a very realistic performance that drew me right into their situation.

The film was directed by Gurindr Chadha, who according to the IMDB seems to have done a few other of films examining the relationship between modern Brits and Indian immigrants. I liked the story a lot, which was also written by Gurindr, and I applaud him for making something so real and heartfelt. Great work, on a small but touching film.

I strongly encourage you to check this film out. The characters really resonate and the story comes from the heart.