Jess: Anyone can cook aloo gobi, - but who can bend a ball like Beckham?
Bend it like Beckham is a dramatic comedy that explores the traditions of Indian culture against the background of modern day Britain. Jess needs to find her way through the claustrophobic expectations of her Indian family and racism from all sectors of society. Can Jess learn to Bend around her culture to reach her goals without losing her family and her tradition completely?
Jess is the main character in the film and we see the story through her eyes. Jess is shown as a smart girl who tries to behave well for her mother and father but cannot help but play soccer, her only obsession. Her parents highly disapprove because girls playing soccer is against tradition, culture and religion. Mrs Bhamra, Jess’ mother, wants Jess to learn to cook a full Indian dinner, get a job as a lawyer and marry a nice Indian boy. She believes that if Jess plays football she will not attract any nice Indian boy; Mrs Bhamra quotes, “What family would want a daughter-in-law who can run around kicking football all day but can’t make round chapatis?” As much as Mr Bhamra disapproves of Jess playing soccer because of their culture, there is also another reason. Mr Bhamra is afraid that Jess is going to be hurt and insulted the same way he was when he played cricket. He was very good at cricket but sadly the English made fun of him because he was different and wore a turban, so he stopped playing cricket because of the racism. The first time we see Jess, is in her daydream, where she is playing for the Manchester United soccer team and scoring the winning goal. This tells us about Jess’ dreams and what she wants to do with her talent. Then we see her in her room surrounded by soccer posters, football scarves and Manchester United tops, that is her reality. Jess doesn’t seem bothered by her appearance and is not into the typical teenage activities, like chasing boys and shopping. When we finally see Jess’ mum teaching Jess how to cook in the kitchen we see her doing soccer exercises with vegetables.
The drama begins when Jules sees Jess playing in the park and asks Jess to come try out for a proper women’s football team. Jess is so excited and of course she says yes. The next day she turns up in her baggy Beckham T-shirt with an enthusiastic smile on her face. The coach of the women’s football team, Joe, does not seem as enthusiastic as Jess about the idea, as Jess looks like another Beckham wannabe. Nevertheless, he is soon very impressed by Jess’ talent and she is invited on the team immediately. When Jess tells her parents about the football team she has been invited to join, she is immediately discouraged, and is banned from football. So Jess decides to lie. Do you think that was right of Jess?
Through the film Jess and Jules become tight friends and Jess develops a crush on Joe, a gora. We get hints from the film that Jules also has a crush on Joe, Jules quotes “I just wish I could find a bloke just like him though, you know, that wasn't off limits. Everyone I know is a prat. They think girls can't play as well as them, except Joe, of course.”
We see Pinky’s good side in the film when she helps Jess get away with going to Germany to play football. The sisters make up a story about staying over at a cousin’s house for the weekend. Pinky covers for Jess while she is away. In Germany, Jess and Jules are wowing everyone with their talent and together they make the perfect pair. That night in Germany they decide to go out and party at a club. This night is the only time where we see Jess dress up and look like a proper women. Her hair is out and she has make-up on her face, and Joe can’t stop staring at her. Jules tries to get Joe on the dance floor and finally he gives in but tries to pull Jess along with him. The three of them dance together, Jules wants Joe to herself but Joe wants Jess to himself. After a while we see Jess stumble off outside because she had a few wines, and Joe follows. Joe holds Jess up and Jess leans in for a kiss just as Jules walks out to see what was happening. Jules calls Jess a not very nice word and they immediately have a falling out. Do you think it was fare for Jules to get angry at Jess?
While Jess and Jules are still not speaking, Jess turns up at Jules’ house to talk. Mrs Paxon is excited to see Jess at first and is non-stop talking as she leads Jess to Jules unaware of what has happened between them Mrs Paxon quotes “you know I cooked a lovely curry the other day! Oh, you still not up? Guess who's come to see you. It's your Indian friend, from football. Jules has been ever so down since you lost in Germany. Maybe you can cheer her up a bit, eh. Do you two want some tea? I've just made some cheese straws with real Gruyere!” Mrs Paxon leaves to get some refreshments and on her way back up she only hears part of the conversation the two girls are having and misunderstand it. Jules: “You don't know the meaning of love! You've really hurt me, Jess! That's all there is to it! You've betrayed me!” Mrs Paxon hears this and jumps to the conclusion Jules and Jess are lesbian lovers.
Jules and Jess are quite alike each other in many ways. They both want to play football, and their mothers both highly disapprove. They are both ambitious and Jules always has the support of her father, and Jess gains her father’s approval near the end of the film too. Jules mother, just like Mrs Bhamra, wants her daughter to be more ‘traditional’ and is worried that her obsession with football is making her less feminine. There are lots of up and downs in the film that stop Jess from playing football, but she continues to sneak out without permission. She pretends to be sick while Pinky and her parents go to the temple, except as soon as they have left she runs to her football match. Jess’ father forgets something and has to come home to collect it, and meanwhile figuring out where Jess is. We see Mr Bhamra turn up at the game and watch Jess play. Later when he comes to collect her he witnesses Jess in a hug with Joe. What thoughts do you think where running through Mr Bhamra and Jess’ mind?
The final championship match is on the same day as Pinky’s wedding. Jess is screwed. Jess has to stay at the wedding and miss the championships. We see clips of the wedding and Jess looks sad. When Tony offers to drive Jess to the game Mr Bhamra overhears and even says himself, “Pinky is so happy and you look as if you've come to your father's funeral.” So Mr Bhamra decides to let Jess play at the finals as long as she comes back smiling. Jess is thrilled and runs off to the game just in time. Both Joe and Jules are pleased to see her, and Jules immediately forgives Jess, and once again, they work together perfectly to score the winning goal. During the game, an American scout is watching their talent and offers them an opportunity to play on the Santa Clara University football team in the United States. Jess returns to the end of her sister’s wedding, getting interrupted by a hysterical Mrs Paxton accusing Jess of being a lesbian and yelling “get your lesbian feet out of my shoes!” Jules manages to lead her mum away and explain later in the car. Jess tells Tony she has the opportunity to play in America. Tony then confesses to Jess that he really likes Beckham, and that he is gay. Jess quotes, “but your Indian!” So even then, with Jess going against religion, playing football and fancying a white boy, she shows racism and thinks it is not right for an Indian boy to be gay.
In the film, Tony and Jess are talking in the kitchen about how to tell Jess’ parents about her offer to play football in America. Although Tony is gay, he asks Jess’ family if he can marry her on one condition; that Jess gets to pick any collage she wants. Except Jess doesn’t want to lie anymore, she is stick of sneaking out and making up stories. So she admits that Tony is lying, and that she played in the final and won. Jess quotes, “I wasn't going to go but Dad let me. And it was brilliant. I played the best ever! And I was happy because I wasn't sneaking off and lying to you! I didn't ask to be good at football. Guru Nanak must have blessed me. Anyway, there was a scout from America there today, and he's offered me a place at a top university with a free scholarship and a chance to play football professionally, and I really want to go, and if I can't tell you what I want now, then I'll never be happy, whatever I do.” At first Mrs Bhamra is horrified, but for the first time Mr Bhamra speaks out. He talks about the prejudice he faced when he played cricket, how he quit because he was afraid and insulted. He quit and chose the easy way out, but Jesminder kept fighting. Mr Bhamra quotes, “When those bloody English cricket players threw me out of their club like a dog... ..I never complained. On the contrary, I vowed that I will never play again. Who suffered? Me. But I don't want Jessie to suffer. I don't want her to make the same mistakes that her father made of accepting life, accepting situations. I want her to fight. And I want her to win... ..because I've seen her play. She is, she is brilliant! I don't think anybody has the right of stopping her. Two daughters made happy in one day. What else can a father ask for?” With that, Mrs Bhamra accepts that is all Jess is going to do, fight and win. She quotes, “at least I have taught her a full Indian dinner. The rest is up to god.”
At the airport, Jess and Jules’ families are saying goodbye. Mrs Bhamra is lecturing Jess with instructions and then Joe comes running to say goodbye and to say how in spite of all the obstacles, he thinks they should continue to try have a relationship. Jess smiles and they kiss. Then we hear Jules crying “It’s Beckham!” and Jess and Joe look up and then look back to each other, giving us the impression that they are more important to each other than Beckham. The fact that Joe and Jess kissed in front of Jules and Jess’ parents, symbolises that Jess is not going to hide things from her parents any more. In the last scene we see Mr Bhamra playing cricket with Joe and teaching him how to bowl!
Bend it like Beckham is a dramatic comedy that explores the traditions of Indian culture against the background of modern day Britain. Jess needs to find her way through the claustrophobic expectations of her Indian family and racism from all sectors of society. Can Jess learn to Bend around her culture to reach her goals without losing her family and her tradition completely?
Jess is the main character in the film and we see the story through her eyes. Jess is shown as a smart girl who tries to behave well for her mother and father but cannot help but play soccer, her only obsession. Her parents highly disapprove because girls playing soccer is against tradition, culture and religion. Mrs Bhamra, Jess’ mother, wants Jess to learn to cook a full Indian dinner, get a job as a lawyer and marry a nice Indian boy. She believes that if Jess plays football she will not attract any nice Indian boy; Mrs Bhamra quotes, “What family would want a daughter-in-law who can run around kicking football all day but can’t make round chapatis?” As much as Mr Bhamra disapproves of Jess playing soccer because of their culture, there is also another reason. Mr Bhamra is afraid that Jess is going to be hurt and insulted the same way he was when he played cricket. He was very good at cricket but sadly the English made fun of him because he was different and wore a turban, so he stopped playing cricket because of the racism. The first time we see Jess, is in her daydream, where she is playing for the Manchester United soccer team and scoring the winning goal. This tells us about Jess’ dreams and what she wants to do with her talent. Then we see her in her room surrounded by soccer posters, football scarves and Manchester United tops, that is her reality. Jess doesn’t seem bothered by her appearance and is not into the typical teenage activities, like chasing boys and shopping. When we finally see Jess’ mum teaching Jess how to cook in the kitchen we see her doing soccer exercises with vegetables.
The drama begins when Jules sees Jess playing in the park and asks Jess to come try out for a proper women’s football team. Jess is so excited and of course she says yes. The next day she turns up in her baggy Beckham T-shirt with an enthusiastic smile on her face. The coach of the women’s football team, Joe, does not seem as enthusiastic as Jess about the idea, as Jess looks like another Beckham wannabe. Nevertheless, he is soon very impressed by Jess’ talent and she is invited on the team immediately. When Jess tells her parents about the football team she has been invited to join, she is immediately discouraged, and is banned from football. So Jess decides to lie. Do you think that was right of Jess?
Through the film Jess and Jules become tight friends and Jess develops a crush on Joe, a gora. We get hints from the film that Jules also has a crush on Joe, Jules quotes “I just wish I could find a bloke just like him though, you know, that wasn't off limits. Everyone I know is a prat. They think girls can't play as well as them, except Joe, of course.”
We see Pinky’s good side in the film when she helps Jess get away with going to Germany to play football. The sisters make up a story about staying over at a cousin’s house for the weekend. Pinky covers for Jess while she is away. In Germany, Jess and Jules are wowing everyone with their talent and together they make the perfect pair. That night in Germany they decide to go out and party at a club. This night is the only time where we see Jess dress up and look like a proper women. Her hair is out and she has make-up on her face, and Joe can’t stop staring at her. Jules tries to get Joe on the dance floor and finally he gives in but tries to pull Jess along with him. The three of them dance together, Jules wants Joe to herself but Joe wants Jess to himself. After a while we see Jess stumble off outside because she had a few wines, and Joe follows. Joe holds Jess up and Jess leans in for a kiss just as Jules walks out to see what was happening. Jules calls Jess a not very nice word and they immediately have a falling out. Do you think it was fare for Jules to get angry at Jess?
While Jess and Jules are still not speaking, Jess turns up at Jules’ house to talk. Mrs Paxon is excited to see Jess at first and is non-stop talking as she leads Jess to Jules unaware of what has happened between them Mrs Paxon quotes “you know I cooked a lovely curry the other day! Oh, you still not up? Guess who's come to see you. It's your Indian friend, from football. Jules has been ever so down since you lost in Germany. Maybe you can cheer her up a bit, eh. Do you two want some tea? I've just made some cheese straws with real Gruyere!” Mrs Paxon leaves to get some refreshments and on her way back up she only hears part of the conversation the two girls are having and misunderstand it. Jules: “You don't know the meaning of love! You've really hurt me, Jess! That's all there is to it! You've betrayed me!” Mrs Paxon hears this and jumps to the conclusion Jules and Jess are lesbian lovers.
Jules and Jess are quite alike each other in many ways. They both want to play football, and their mothers both highly disapprove. They are both ambitious and Jules always has the support of her father, and Jess gains her father’s approval near the end of the film too. Jules mother, just like Mrs Bhamra, wants her daughter to be more ‘traditional’ and is worried that her obsession with football is making her less feminine. There are lots of up and downs in the film that stop Jess from playing football, but she continues to sneak out without permission. She pretends to be sick while Pinky and her parents go to the temple, except as soon as they have left she runs to her football match. Jess’ father forgets something and has to come home to collect it, and meanwhile figuring out where Jess is. We see Mr Bhamra turn up at the game and watch Jess play. Later when he comes to collect her he witnesses Jess in a hug with Joe. What thoughts do you think where running through Mr Bhamra and Jess’ mind?
The final championship match is on the same day as Pinky’s wedding. Jess is screwed. Jess has to stay at the wedding and miss the championships. We see clips of the wedding and Jess looks sad. When Tony offers to drive Jess to the game Mr Bhamra overhears and even says himself, “Pinky is so happy and you look as if you've come to your father's funeral.” So Mr Bhamra decides to let Jess play at the finals as long as she comes back smiling. Jess is thrilled and runs off to the game just in time. Both Joe and Jules are pleased to see her, and Jules immediately forgives Jess, and once again, they work together perfectly to score the winning goal. During the game, an American scout is watching their talent and offers them an opportunity to play on the Santa Clara University football team in the United States. Jess returns to the end of her sister’s wedding, getting interrupted by a hysterical Mrs Paxton accusing Jess of being a lesbian and yelling “get your lesbian feet out of my shoes!” Jules manages to lead her mum away and explain later in the car. Jess tells Tony she has the opportunity to play in America. Tony then confesses to Jess that he really likes Beckham, and that he is gay. Jess quotes, “but your Indian!” So even then, with Jess going against religion, playing football and fancying a white boy, she shows racism and thinks it is not right for an Indian boy to be gay.
In the film, Tony and Jess are talking in the kitchen about how to tell Jess’ parents about her offer to play football in America. Although Tony is gay, he asks Jess’ family if he can marry her on one condition; that Jess gets to pick any collage she wants. Except Jess doesn’t want to lie anymore, she is stick of sneaking out and making up stories. So she admits that Tony is lying, and that she played in the final and won. Jess quotes, “I wasn't going to go but Dad let me. And it was brilliant. I played the best ever! And I was happy because I wasn't sneaking off and lying to you! I didn't ask to be good at football. Guru Nanak must have blessed me. Anyway, there was a scout from America there today, and he's offered me a place at a top university with a free scholarship and a chance to play football professionally, and I really want to go, and if I can't tell you what I want now, then I'll never be happy, whatever I do.” At first Mrs Bhamra is horrified, but for the first time Mr Bhamra speaks out. He talks about the prejudice he faced when he played cricket, how he quit because he was afraid and insulted. He quit and chose the easy way out, but Jesminder kept fighting. Mr Bhamra quotes, “When those bloody English cricket players threw me out of their club like a dog... ..I never complained. On the contrary, I vowed that I will never play again. Who suffered? Me. But I don't want Jessie to suffer. I don't want her to make the same mistakes that her father made of accepting life, accepting situations. I want her to fight. And I want her to win... ..because I've seen her play. She is, she is brilliant! I don't think anybody has the right of stopping her. Two daughters made happy in one day. What else can a father ask for?” With that, Mrs Bhamra accepts that is all Jess is going to do, fight and win. She quotes, “at least I have taught her a full Indian dinner. The rest is up to god.”
At the airport, Jess and Jules’ families are saying goodbye. Mrs Bhamra is lecturing Jess with instructions and then Joe comes running to say goodbye and to say how in spite of all the obstacles, he thinks they should continue to try have a relationship. Jess smiles and they kiss. Then we hear Jules crying “It’s Beckham!” and Jess and Joe look up and then look back to each other, giving us the impression that they are more important to each other than Beckham. The fact that Joe and Jess kissed in front of Jules and Jess’ parents, symbolises that Jess is not going to hide things from her parents any more. In the last scene we see Mr Bhamra playing cricket with Joe and teaching him how to bowl!