A New Bend on an Old Formula

Crossing a "random movie I haven't seen" of my list, I watched Bend it Like Beckham. Made in 2002 with a cast of then mostly unknowns, today there are plenty of recognizable faces for a healthy consumer of pop culture. Keira Knightley is of course the "big name" now associated with the film. But the main character is played by Parminder Nagra, who most recently was in the cast of Alcatraz. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (star of The Tudors and other films) and Archie Panjabi (captivating as Kalinda on The Good Wife) also play prominent roles.

The plot surrounds a young girl of Indian descent, living in the U.K. She has a natural talent for football (soccer, to us Americans), but she faces twin cultural obstacles: women command no respect in the sport compared to (oddly enough) America; and her own parents are both strict about her behaving properly and finding an Indian husband. And so the movie is about challenging stereotypes and breaking the mold.

The result is a curious one. On the one hand, the movie manages to walk a very delicate tightrope of respecting the Indian culture it portrays, while still revolving around a central character who wants nothing to do with it. You feel the frustration of a well-intended-yet-insidious form of bigotry in what the protagonist can and can't do, what she can't make her parents understand. And just as the film tastefully challenges notions of culture, so too it confronts issues of sexism and even homosexuality.

But, on the other hand, the movie is also quite predictable and mundane at the same time. The story of the "hero who must follow a dream" in spite of "parents who don't understand" has been done to death. It's even been done with a sports theme like this. Every scene of the film is painfully predictable, adhering to a long established structure.

In an odd way, perhaps this goes directly to making the movie's point. The idea is that an Indian should be able to do anything a Brit can, and that a woman should have all the same opportunities as a man. And this movie delivers exactly that; despite unconventional trappings, you get the exact same shape of a movie that you've seen before with a blond American male in the lead role.

I don't mean to cast the movie as completely mediocre, but in the DNA, it really is. The quality of the performances do help left it a cut above that, though. Parminder Nagra is a compelling and sympathetic lead. Her friend Tony is played by Ameet Chana with warmth and charm. Keira Knightley is bubbly and energetic.

Ultimately, Bend It Like Beckham is a not-quite-formula formula movie. It's just different enough to be worth your time, but not so different to be truly exceptional. I rate it a B-.