The Canadian Cinephile’s Reviews

Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002-2003 (depending on where you live) British film directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bride and Prejudice, What’s Cooking). The film focuses on the lives of two young London women with very different backgrounds. One is a British Indian Sikh girl who plays football against her family’s wishes, while the other is a Londoner attempting to fight off her mother’s assumptions about her sexuality and her athletic prowess. The film treats the topic of parents and family tradition as its focal point, using the game of football as a backdrop to the real story about how these young women interact with their families and with the culture clash.

The film stars Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra as the two women and also features Jonathon Rhys Meyers, Archie Panjabi, Ameet Chana and a collection of other Indian actors in several key roles. The cast is truly exuberant and fun, bringing loads of energy and life to the screen as the story continues. The family dynamic is captured elegantly and realistically on both sides of the tale, from the protectiveness of the Indian family to the silly presumptions of the middle-class London family. Both are played to comedic effect without actually laughing at the traditions or lifestyles of the two families.

The film’s dialogue is smart, intelligent and witty with lots of banter about the various cultures, religions and family issues that arise during the course of the film. Topics such as arranged marriage, the role of women and sexuality are all discussed with potent and brave witticisms, making the script flow naturally and eloquently from the performers. It is a layered piece insomuch as it delicately presents several points of view without subscribing to any particular point of view. Bend It Like Beckham works because it keeps the protagonist honest and good-natured, instead of turning her into a precocious rebel that defies her parents at every turn to chase her dreams.

Beyond the film’s careful cultural construction, Bend It Like Beckham just feels good. It’s a film that intends to raise the audience up, give them something to think about and entertain them with lively splices of football and a fun Indian wedding sequence with extravagant splashes of color and life. The film’s music keeps driving the action suitably, never feeling out of place in the confines of the fast-pacing and generous action shots. It’s a film with good intentions, without a doubt.

Some of the critique against Bend It Like Beckham is that it is too obvious and too familiar. As far as I’m concerned, however, if a film creates a fascination with the characters and a desire to see those characters do well, it succeeds at its goal. Bend It Like Beckham is driven by its characters and by the richness of their families and their lives. The excitement of the football matches is secondary to the real story of relationships and the changes they go through, from weddings to football to heading off to America and to college. The culture “shock” isn’t treated obviously but rather respectfully, with passionate curiosity instead of arrogant attempts at comic relief. The Indian parents are funny because they’re funny, not because they’re Indian.

So Bend It Like Beckham does reach for the feel-good ending, it does push all of the right buttons and it isn’t a surprising film in that it wows you with an ending you never expected. But is that really the point and, furthermore, is the the primary goal of films? Far too often, I read reviews that critique all films along the same wavelength as though each film is a thriller that needs innovation and unique “twists.” Bend It Like Beckham deserves better treatment. It is a sweetheart of a film that is a treat to watch thanks to an intelligent script, gentle performances and lively fun.

7.5/10