Bend It Like Beckham

An important event near the end of the film “Bend it Like Beckham” directed by Gurinder Chadha was Jess’s final football match. It was important because it was the climax of the film. Jess’s dream was to be a professional football player. Jess’s culture and tradition were in the way of achieving her dream. In order to achieve her dream she had to use deception. Verbal and visual features such as camera work, symbols and music were used throughout the film to show that the event was important.

Jess is an Indian girl that lives in London with her parents and sister Pinky. Jess’s dream was to be a professional football player. Her parents wanted Jess to be a traditional Indian women and a solicitor. Jess had to use deception if she wanted to achieve her dream. The idea of deception was shown visually with cross-cuts between Jess in Germany and her father looking at Jess in the picture in the newspaper. In the cross-cuts there was a close up shot of Jess’s father to show that he felt angry because Jess lied to them. Jess knew that her parents will not let her play football. This was shown verbally when her mother said “what family will want a daughter in law who can go around kicking football all day but can’t make round chapattis?” The match in Germany was important for Jess because it was a step forward in achieving her dream. The cross-cuts that represented the idea of deception showed that the final football match would be an important event.

When Jess’s parents found out that she had been playing football secretly they were angry at her. Jess’s final football match was on the same day as her sister’s wedding. Jess as an Indian girl should be happy that there is going to be a wedding and you think she would be more traditional like the rest of her family but she is not. The final football match was very important to Jess and she had to choose between her family and her dream. She chose not to go to the match and her father realised how unhappy she was and he