Bend It Like Beckham [2002] - Warner Home Video

Delightful

I'd been after this film for some time, and was pleased to be able to pick it up cheaply at the supermarket earlier this week. I was somewhat surprised when my mother (not, as far as I know, a fan of the cross-cultural sporting coming-of-age genre) said that she wanted to watch it last night. It turns out that someone had told her that it had been made around where we grew up in West London (Hayes, Southall, Hounslow, Heathrow - how those names mix memory and desire). Neither of us were disappointed - it's an excellent comedy, with some deft touches.

The story isn't perhaps the most original creation, but the merit of the acting is that it has you caring about what happens to the characters. Parminder Nagra is particularly good, although I thought Keira Knightley wasn't so skilled at handling the obligatory twists in her role. The direction is adept - particularly for the crowd scenes (the football games, the parties, the wedding). And the soundtrack - an exciting mixture of bhangra and Western music (though I must have missed Victoria Beckham's contribution) - is really well matched: one of my favourite parts was the use of the impossibly exhuberant "Move On Up" during a montage of the team training, which almost made me want to jump up and start kicking a ball around the room myself. Almost.

Enjoyable enough, but somewhat overrated.

In a similar vein to East Is East, this film is a fairly lightweight look at second generation Asian immigrants and their struggle to find their place in the clash between their families traditional culture, and that of the country in which they are living. It's made harder still for lead character Jess (Parminder Nagra), as her desire to play football is something that even British parents find an odd choice for girls to make - which is illustrated in the film by the relationship between Jules (Keira Knightley) and her somewhat narrow minded middle-Englander mum (not necessarily racist, sexist and homophobic, but certainly ignorant enough to make offensive comments).

This is one of Nightley's earlier roles as a lead character in a film, yet she has already adopted her characteristic, somewhat wooden, fixed-jaw-big-grin acting style. Nagra, in my opinion, easily outshines Knightley in terms of acting ability, and the fact that her career has been less successful possibly mirrors the issues of institutional racism and cultural expectations touched on by this film.

Whilst the film sets out to break down stereotypes (girls can play football, attractive girls can play football, attractive Asian girls can play football, ...), it also relies on them very heavily. With both Jess's and Jule's families being highly stereotypical (the mums to an almost silly extent).

The dialogue in the film, especially of the young characters, is rather forced and unnatural a lot of the time, especially when delivered in Knightley's wooden style. I find it almost cringe worthy in places, "innit!".

It is quite a fun film though, and mostly harmless, for when you don't want something too high-brow, or well-polished. So Ideal for a weekend afternoon after a filling meal and a few glasses of wine. I'm not sure, though, how it has managed to become such a highly rated film.

A great Movie

I bought this for my sons who are 13 & 12. It was a great hit and Ienjoyed it too as I havn't seen it for years. Good family fun (as long as your kids aren't too small). My youngest has already watched it twice - so it was worth the money!

Well-Rounded Comedy Drama - Indian Culture in Britain; Girls and Football

"Bend It" is a film about tackling adversity.

A major focus of the film is Jess tackling her family's adversity to her playing football. Her parents want her to get married at age 17/18, to a "good Indian boy" and her Mum wants Jess to learn how to cook a "full Indian meal".

Another theme of adversity, although one not given much focus, is racism. This spans Jess's father recounting his negative experience with an amateur English cricket club; Jess explaining her parent's insistence that she can only marry an Indian boy - not white, black or Muslim; the coach mentioning that's in being Irish he encountered racism as a player, and Jess being called a "Paki" by an opponent.

The football scenes are great fun, and there's plenty of comedic moments in the film. The scene near the end - at Jess's parents house, where they grant her permission to go to America - is a tear-jerker. Plus something happens at the airport to complete a feel-good ending!

On top of all this are excellent contemporary references of that 2001/2002 era, to Spice Girls ("there's a reason why Sporty Spice is the only one without a fella!"), David Beckham in his Manchester United days, and the short-lived professional women's football league within the USA.

Great film. Great fun.

A chick flick that boys like too

A joyous rom-com to give rom-coms a good name, Bend it like Beckham has great acting, sympathetic characters and sense of energy and exuberance that carries you happily through the slightly more far-fetched moments.