ABSTRACT
At first glance, Bend it like Beckham seems the conventional sporting tale of an underdog made good. That this underdog is a young British Asian woman, rather than a freckled-faced white boy from Millwall or a luckless lad from Liverpool, seems only to add spice to the story. But it is the bedrock – the underlying tragedy of racism, despair and prejudice – that transforms this ‘feel-good’ flick into significant cinema. It is an important film, but it is also a potent intervention in sporting history.
