Bend It Like Beckham Director: Gurinder Chadha Country: UK Year: 2002

CAST:
Parminder K. Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Anupam Kher, Archie Panjabi, Juliet Stevenson


A Letter from Director Gurinder Chadha >>>


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After a summer with the pomp and glory of World Cup soccer for the guys, it is pure rapture to see a film that affirms with such superb style that girls can play that game, too. Writer-director Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham captures the skill, speed and indomitable spirit of a London women's amateur soccer team as it dodges and weaves through the players' lives.

Jess Bharma (the radiant Parminder K. Nagra) is good enough in a pick-up game in the park to catch the attention of Jules (Keira Knightley), who invites her to try out for the Hounslow Harriers. Deking around her traditional Indian family's disapproval of her talent and passion for the game, Jess begins a double life. She moves into the girl-powered locker room and onto a field of discipline and excellence with the quiet support of the coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers).

Back at home, Jess's older sister (Archie Panjabi) plans every sumptuous, dazzling detail of her upcoming wedding, Mrs. Bharma tries to persuade Jess to take a more responsible attitude around the house – and ready herself for the vocation of marriage – while Mr. Bharma (Bollywood star Anupam Kher) suppresses twinges of sympathy for his younger child. Although the field is pitted with rough patches, Jess is determined to meet them with equilibrium and independence. After all, why would you want to sit at home learning to make round chapatis if you can bend a ball like David Beckham, the Manchester United star?

The film is pure, unabashed wish fulfillment in its most revolutionary form: Chadha maps out little-known territory, her brilliant sense of fun offering keen insight into cultural and generational clashes. Juliet Stevenson merits special mention for her hysterically funny portrayal of Jules's mother, raising the middle-class niceness of "Keeping Up Appearances" to a hyperbolic, jaw-dropping pitch. But Nagra steals the show as Jess, the forthright, clear-headed, fresh-faced heroine who can bend hearts – as well as soccer balls – to her strong, optimistic will.

– Michèle Maheux


Related sites:
www.FoxSearchlight.com/benditlikebeckham