A Review of The Film Bend It Like Beckham

Before watching this film, I expected it to be a soccer, entertaining movie with many experiences and aspects about overcoming obstacles, women’s sports and the love for the sport of soccer. However, it didn’t meet my expectations for what I thought it was going to be, despite still appreciating the movie throughout.

Bend it Like Beckham is a comedy-drama, which focuses with issues centred on the coming of age, highlighting traditional Indian values and modern experiences faced in Britain. The relevant messages include to always strive for what you want in life, never give up and don’t listen to people trying to stop your dreams and what you believe in.

Jess is an 18-year-old that is obsessed with soccer and David Beckham, but because she is a woman, her conservative family won't let her play. Jules is the same age and loves soccer, playing for a local women’s team, the Hounslow Harriers, coached by Joe. After try-outs, he accepts Jess on the team, but Jess lies to Joe about her parents being cool with the idea. I thought that the plot is believable and relevant and develops a story, full of tension in Jess’ life. The plot is easy to follow, which it is also believable as Jess is an Indian and has to follow her traditions.

The characters in this film were ‘on and off’. They usually had a major or little importance throughout the film. The main characters included Jess (Parminder Nagra), Jules (Keira Knightley), Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Mr Bhamra (Anupam Kher), Paula (Juliet Stevenson) and Pinky (Archie Panjabi). Most of these characters play an important role and adds a lot to the film with each of their problems and personalities. Although, only some of those characters were effective in their roles, as some scenes were less convincing and looked a bit dull to prove their point. For example, Jess and Jules played an effective role in the film by showing their passion for soccer and how they deal with family issues. But with Joe, he didn’t show as much emotion when dealing with certain situations such as his soccer team and his past, which made his role ineffective.

I enjoyed the film for the most part. It is probably a good age for myself to watch it and because I love soccer. The film had a good storyline to go along with what Jess had to experience. These problems included her family and her passion for soccer. The way they filmed and produced the different perspectives of each event in the story were decent. The events of the film could have been improved in some aspects to further extend the quality of how the movie flows. An aspect of improvement would be that they should stay clear of the clichés and go towards a new, creative instinct to make the movie a more successful storyline, which more people would enjoy to see what happens.

I would recommend this film as it shows strong themes of teamwork, friendship, and parents learning to support their children's interests/dreams. Therefore, I would say that it would be really good for adolescents as they can see the different actions and perspectives.