Bend it like Beckham review

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Bend It Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2002) is set in the culture rich capital of London, and is a British comedy about the daughter of an orthodox Sikh who is more interested in playing football than learning how to cook traditional Indian cuisine. But 18yr-old Jessminder Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) knows that her mother and father would never allow it. When she is spotted playing in the park by Juliette 'Jules' (Keira Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean) and is invited to join a local team, Jess begins to lie to her parents and attend training in secret. There, she feels an instant connection with their coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Velvet Goldmine) who has dedicated his life to coaching the girls soccer team since a knee injury has prevented him from playing the sport himself. As the film progresses, Jess feels more and more like she is leading a double life, and constantly put under the pressure of having to choose: her family values or her life's passion? This is a film where the main theme is culture clash. On one hand, we have a traditional Indian girl rebelling against her family's culture by choosing to play an English sport, and on the other we have a tomboyish English girl (Jules) who's mother (Juliet Stevenson, Truly Madly Deeply) forces femininity upon her in the form of girly clothes and perfume. Out of this theme alone we can see the comedy aspect of the film straight away. At one point Jess is seen hugging Jules at the bus stop by her parents friends, and they get the wrong idea. As soon as she gets home she is accused of kissing an English boy and shaming the family. The same happens when Jules' small minded mother overhears an argument between the girls; she assumes they are lesbians and in a relationship. She ends up crashing Jess' sister's wedding and shouting at her to “get your lesbian feet out of my shoes!” which prompts the comedic

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