Top 20 Inspirational Sports Movies

Bend It Like Beckham

The summer of 2003 was a tumultuous time for me: My son was diagnosed with autism and my daughter was about to be born--and I feared having another baby with "special needs." A few days before Amal made her entrance, we went to see Gurindar Chadha's "Bend it Like Beckham" to get our mind off our worries. And it worked.

The story of Jess (Parminder Nagra), a David Beckham-idolizing soccer phenom forced to choose between her sport and her traditional Indian family--but who found a way to have it all--made me hopeful that I too could have it all. She loved soccer and her family enough to unite the two.

I walked out of that theater with my hand on my belly and felt that my daughter wouldn't just be fine, she'd be a firecracker like Jess. Five years later, Amal is our own active, feisty version of Jess. Ole, ole, ole!
--Dilshad Ali

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