Spellbound (2002)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Brilliant and touching

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

What a touching documentary! It was spellbinding! I saw this about a decade ago on DVD and it was interesting listening to the director's commentary about how he approached the suspenseful ending where he didn't want to focus on the winner alone. Instead he wanted to celebrate the achievements of all.I was shocked to hear about the untimely death of Ted Brigham, one of the contestants featured, in 2007 while doing pre-med studies. I'd like the director to do a remake of the documentary with the current crop of contestants. There's some chatter about the high proportion of Americans of Indian descent comprising the finalists, and for the sake of free speech the documentary can consider this angle, the elephant in the room. The director should consider whether spelling bee competitions are popular in India.

Most people believe that it is a good thing to be a decent speller, to a certain extent, but beyond, you're just flaunting how impressive you are. The eight contestants in Jeffrey Blitz's surprisingly tense pun-titled documentary, who have come from all over America to battle in the National Spelling Bee, are never possible to need these words. As we watch them training with flashcards and worksheets, we wish they will win, but we're not certain what they will gain from it.And nevertheless for some of them, winning the bee will make a important change in their lives, not because they can spell so well, but because the prizes consist of college scholarships. For instance, consider Angela Arenivar. She pulls through all the way to the finals in Washington, D.C., from the Texas farm where her father works as a manual worker. He initially came into the country illegally, even now speaks no English, and is full of pride past all expression of his intelligent daughter.We root for her in the finals, however in that case we root for all of these kids, because it is so easy to hark back to the torture of getting an answer wide of the mark in front of the whole class. None of these pre-teens is just good at spelling. Blitz takes his documentary into their homes and schools, observes their families and goals, and baring to us that they're all clever in many other ways--including the way that makes them a little lonely at times.Take Harry Altman, who has so many funny habits and idiosyncrasies that he reminds me of a few things I did when I was his age that I didn't think any other kid ever did. School cannot be unproblematic for him, although he will have his vengeance at the reunion, by which time he will I am sure be a notable intellectual or an honored laureate, and perhaps his behavior will be different to the point where they will hardly recognize him.This movie is a compassionate vindication for kids in that it knows that, for the most part, to be smart is to be an outcast in high school. To be looked at as smart is even worse because many kids that could have been one of this film's contestants learn to cover up their intellect. There is a breed of harsh hero worship of the "common person" or the "underdog" in the company of a lot of adolescent social circles that punishes the ones who try harder or are more talented. The film follows its finalist kids from Florida, small town Texas, Washington D.C. projects, California, Missouri, New Jersey Pennsylvania and Connecticut, so this issue is shared across regions.In his Oscar-nominated documentary, Jeffrey Blitz, who later made a great feature film called Rocket Science about a stuttering kid who competes in a high school debate team, opens with documentary descriptions of his eight finalists and then tracks them to Washington, D.C., where they vie on ESPN, and not only is it academic excellence that competes, but also class differences and dedication in whether one wants to ascend the socioeconomic ladder or add another perk to their fabulous resume.We've never heard most of the words, which is where most of the fun comes from, especially if you're watching the movie with someone else. Clavecin? Tuyere? Cephalalgia? Palimpsest? A lot of the drama and suspense comes from the close-ups of these kids during their moments of truth, learning that the common spelling imperatives are helpful no more than up to a rare degree, and then recollection is your only chance. Some of these kids have studied literally all day every day, learning words by heart that they may well never hear, write or make use of. Yet when they think they recognize a word, it's valuable to stop dead and be in no doubt, because as soon as you get to the end of a word you can't repeat. You don't win owing to your total score, but because you have been perfect longer than some 300 other kids.Ironically, when the kids lose, all of course except for one, some of them shrug it off, and a few look as if relieved to be liberated from the stress and worry. One girl is distraught when she meets with defeat, but we know it's because she knew it, and still lost. They're all winners, one way or another, and had to place first in their state or regional contests to get here, but for some it matters more here than others.

Spellbound is a mixed bag. For one thing, it is really quite a bit longer than it needed to be, and I found myself eager for it to get to the point. The profiles of each of the kids are interesting, but they could all have been clipped by 20-30% without much loss of content.The most interesting aspect of the movie are the kids themselves: where they come from, the lives they lead, the way they reflect their parents' ambitions and struggles. In a sense, these children are a sampling of American society, and their stories illustrate much about the ways that different subgroups or subcultures operate and what they value. For example, it was very interesting to note the ambitious attitudes with which children of immigrants attacked the spelling bee. The black girl's family typified her subgroup.I'd say it's worth watching, mainly as a nutshell picture of American society and its priorities, but keep a finger on the fast-forward.

A movie about a spelling competition? Who would have thought! This documentary covers the U.S national spelling bee in 1999 and the dreams and fates of 8 starry-eyed hopefuls wishing for spelling-glory. There is a wide range of kids ranging from what seems about 10 years to 16 years and covers a wide range of ethnic groups from Anglo-Saxon American to Indian and Mexican.Apart from the exciting battle between these formidable spellers, what Spellbound shows us is the wide range of ethnic groups prevalent in the U.S; no matter where you come from they all strive towards the American dream – in this case, to win a spelling bee! Furthermore each of the kids - and as strongly demonstrated by their parents - show that they have different means to achieve the common dream.Cultural and social-economic differences show us that the dream as a symbol can vary greatly from family to family. It is amazingly interesting to see how the family in Texas gambles their whole life on seeing Ashley (I think?) makes it to the top while April's(?) family in Connecticut see it as just another hobby and are in genuine awe of her talents. Neil's family see it as a way of compensating for their poor upbringing and ensuring he has a high quality of life. The discrepancy in social wealth and education is striking. April's family is able to afford her horse-riding, a good school and tuition, while the kids in The South and poorer areas of the Mid-West have no other activities. Some of them only work at their spelling and it in fact one of them comments that it so-to-speak, keeps them off the streets. For one child, it is a blessing to a new and successful life; for another, proof to their parents that they are worthy; and for someone else, a merely just another gold star to add to their collectionAll the kids are a joy to watch, bright-eyed and eager, capturing the pleasure and anticipation in finding their special talent and something in life worthy striving for. Most interestingly are the dynamics between the parents and children and seeing how one child see the competition as a hobby and the parent as a golden ticket. Neil's parents seems a bit dogmatic and over-orthodox to the point of almost brainwashing the poor kid! It is amazing to see where they cultivate their sharp minds and passion for words when the parents, while are loving in their child's interest, have almost no interest in a world of complicated words and grammar.I find it a truth too common nowadays - in my neighbourhood anyway - where many affluent kids (especially Asians) are pressured so much by the parents to achieve something, to fulfill goals that the parents sorely wanted to achieve. So much so that they will go to tremendous lengths of tuition, coaching, study forsaking social play and hobbies just to achieve the elusive gold standard. This film highlights this and touches on these disparities lightly.The spelling bee itself forms the last good half of the film and remains interspersed with comments from the family and kids about their anxiety, jubilations and dreams and the field narrows. The suspense is nail-bitingly tense. The words are *difficult*, not even an above-average speller like myself could attempt them, let alone pronounce them. I didn't know what almost all of them meant and haven't even heard of them!But what I found distracting was the poor quality film they had to use. There wasn't any real point to using a cheaper film and I found it quite hard to see what was going on sometimes. In addition, the sound quality was very poor, and I had to turn up the sound quite a lot, especially during the competition which formed most of the film's thrilling excitement. Unfortunately, I would have like to hear what they were spelling half the time! I also the structuring was a little off and a little difficult to get adjusted. I really wished that they had filmed it more crisply and clearly because I found myself very distracted me several times especially at crucial points in the film.However, it still remains a fairly pleasant film helped along by the charisma and diversity of the kids. I remember myself as a prolific reader when I was young and used to love spelling, but these kids obviously had a lot more fun than I ever had, and their infectious joy shines vivaciously throughout. This was an enjoyable, cute little film.