"Bend It Like Beckham"

Description of the tool

"Bend It Like Beckham", directed by Gurinder Chada, tells the story of Jess, a girl from a traditional Sikh family living in London, who is crazy about football and her hero David Beckham. While Jess dreams about football, her family is more concerned about her becoming a "proper woman"(i.e. finding a husband and learning to cook.) Jess becomes friends with Jules and together they play on a local women's football team. But when her family forbid her to play, Jess has to find a way to balance her own dreams with the expectatons of her family, friends and culture. The story comes to a head when the most important game of the year falls on the same day as Jess's sister's wedding.

"Bend It Like Beckham" can be used as an educational tool for launching discussions on a variety of topics. The film is very good at highlighting issues related to the world of sport (for example the lack of exposure, respect and equal opportunities for women's sport), but it also shows many other themes which relate to situations in daily life (e.g. inter-racial relationships, cultural diversity, coping with expectations from family and community, gender roles, religion and so on). The issues will quickly be recognised by almost any audience. Compared with many other sport-themed films, "Beckham's" main strengh is its ability to present serious subjects within a comic storyline. It touches on heavy topics but keeps the atmosphere light and entertaining at all times.