Well this is my first film review, but after watching a cracker last night, I wanted to tell you all about it! Bend It Like Beckham is a heart felt battle between a strict Sikh family and their 18 year old daughter who desperately wants to play football.
Genre ===== This film is generically a comedy, but entwined with serious issues regarding religion, gender and sexuality.
Plot ==== Jess (short for Jesminder) is the youngest of two Indian sisters who come from a very religious family. The parents beliefs are such that the men earn the money and the women bear children, keep house and learn to cook a perfect Punjabi dinner. Unfortunately for Jess, she has a natural flair for playing football and is more commonly seen playing with the boys in the park than helping her mother prepare chapatis in the kitchen.
Whilst playing one afternoon in the park, she is spotted by 18 year old Juliette (Jules) who plays for a local women's football team. She is approached by Jules to try out for the team - called the Houndslow Harriers.
Knowing that her parents would not approve, she cooks a web of lies and deceit to cover her tracks. Needless to say, she is really talented and her parents obviously find out!!
Cast ==== Jess Bhamra is played by Parminder Nagra who you may recognise from ER. She is fantastic as the 18 year old tomboy and has you truly believing her despair as she tries to make her parents come round to a modern way of thinking.
Juliette Paxton is played by Keira Knightley who to me was the most famous name in the film. She has acted in various films such as Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and Love Actually and is due to star in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. However, to me she was the weakest actress in the film. I found her acting wooden and difficult to watch.
There are bit-parts by brother and sister act in the new family in Eastenders, Kareena and Adi Ferreira who play Meena and Tony - Jess's friends. Meena is a popular Indian girl who rebels against the religion in favour of attracting boys. Tony also aspires to attract boys although that is a difficult subject to tackle in such a strict religious environment.
Jules' mother (Paula) is played by Juliet Stevenson and stood out as one of the greatest parts. She had various strong comedy moments as the dizzy blonde who had no idea about football. Indeed, she is convinced her daughter must be a lesbian. Enter the best comedy moment of the film at Jess's sister's wedding. Paula storms up in front of the whole family and calls Jess a hypocrite for pretending to be so religious when she was nothing but a lesbian, leading her beloved daughter astray! A voice from the back in a strong Indian accent pipes up, "Lesbian?? I thought she was a Pisces"!!!!
I have to give noticeable mention to Jonathan Rhys-Meyers who plays lovable Irish coach Joe - if only for the phwoooar factor ladies!! A natural love interest for Jess, but can they get it together?
Location ======== The film is based primarily in Southall and Houndslow in London, right underneath a flight path for Heathrow. Shots of the belly of planes feature strongly in this film to give a feel for the location. Jess's father is a pilot now, but a failed cricket player due to the racism back then when he moved to the UK.
There are also scenes from Hamburg in Germany when the team draw a match with a German side.
Acting ====== Apart from the clumsy acting "skills" of Keira Knightley, I find the cast work fantastically together. The whole Indian wedding scenes were fantastically acted and really made you feel a part of it. This was probably because most of the "guests" were in fact relatives of the director and treated the filming like a real wedding, throwing themselves into the spirit. Parminder Nagra is great as the lead role and is convincing as an up and coming football player. Mind you, the actresses were coached in football by Simon Clifford, a soccer coach who runs Futbol De Salao in Brazil.
Watchability ============ I find the film a little slow in places but this soon picks back up to speed making it a very "watchable" film. I found it interesting to watch how another lifestyle can affect things some of us take for granted. And above all, I laughed and laughed at the comedy injected into the script.
Soundtrack ========== I might have to look into buying the soundtrack on CD. It was a great mix of "toe tappers" which had me bouncing along cheerily on the sofa, spilling my popcorn everywhere. There were tracks from Basement Jaxx, Melanie C, Blondie, Texas, Victoria Beckham (oh but of course) and lots of Indian versions of well known songs such as "Hot Hot Hot" and Jennifer Rush's "The Power of Love".
Overall rating ============== I will give this 4 out of 5 for pure comedy value and brilliant acting! Keira, I'm afraid you let the side down.
Summary ======= An great easy to watch film which will have you crying with laughter and cringing at some of the difficult moments poor Jess has to face. If you liked East is East, you'll love this.
So will she make it as a football player, or will she have to don the sari and perfect her curries. You'll have to watch and see. As she says, "Who wants to make Aloo Gobi, when you can bend a ball like Beckham"!!
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issues of cultural clashes, female independence and the importance of family. Director Gurinder Chaddha tells the story of Jess Bhamra (Parminder K Nagra), a young gi...
Bend It Like Beckham [2002]
For all its light-hearted comic interludes,Bend it like Beckhamtackles contemporary issues
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of cultural clashes, female independence and the importance of family. Director Gurinder Chaddha tells the story of Jess Bhamra (Parminder KNagra), a young girl ...
very helpful![Bend It Like Beckham [2002]](http://picnic.ciao.com/uk/65509295.jpg)
