Released: UK and Europe: 2002, America: 2003
Starring: Parminder K. Nagra and Keira Knightly
Directed by: Gurinda Chadha.
Screenwriters: Gurinda Chadha, Guljit Bindra and Paul Mayeda Berges
The Scoop
Beckham, for all you North American non-football watching freaks out there, is a British football star. Football is, of course, Soccer.
This was a good movie about a young East Indian girl who is essentially drafted into Englands womens football (soccer) system. The problem is: her parents do not want her to play. They want her to be a good Indian girl.
Okay, it sounds hoaky, predictable and kind of overdone (in the general sense of kid vs. parents) then you are hearing right. This is however a cute film that is worth a watch.
The lead character (played by Parminder) is sympathetic and the effort she goes through to be able to do what she wants to gives the makers lots of fodder for light comedy.
While the movie is definitely about Indian culture and its clash with Western culture (if we can call it that I suppose the Brits can), it is universal in its general theme of times changing between generations.
This is the kind of well-made, cute, comedy that is perfect for watching with your girlfriends parents or just to impress a date who seems a bit intellectual. It has all the characteristics of a good Disney film and definitely has enough substance to see the viewers through to the end. It is not as triumphant as we Americans have come to expect in our movies but, then again, this is about battling cultural barriers, not about being an underdog sports team.
I would definitely recommend watching this movie. I highly doubt that it will become your favourite movie of all time but it is certainly worth the price of admission.