Spellbound
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Movie Reviews of Spellbound
Movie Review: And Vanna Doesn't Even Give Them Letters
Summary: 5 Stars
We live in a culture that is increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of singular excellence. Many of us would prefer to avoid saying one person's idea is better than another's, that one religion is true or one nation is the best. We would rather not say one person is the best, except for bar arguments involving professional sports. We wouldn't dream of saying one child was the best. Perhaps that's part of the reason why elementary school award ceremonies increasingly give an award for SOMETHING to every child ("Least Cluttered Desk", "Most Improved in P.E."), to protect self-esteem. High schools hesitate to give an award to a single valedictorian, fearing litigation. Little League All-Star team rosters grow.
That is one of the reasons the documentary film, Spellbound, directed by Jeffrey Blitz, is so compelling. It features children of singular excellence. Even those who have problems with "I before e, except after c" will be captivated by this presentation of the 1999 National Spelling Bee. There is a single champion at the Bee; one child competes to be the best speller in the nation for that year. The film follows eight students as they prepare for the Bee. You'll find yourself choosing favorites to root for, and if (like me) you have a mean streak, you may find a child or two to root against. (I will tell you who I was pulling for: a girl named Angela from Texas whose father had entered the United States illegally so his children would have an education. The father works on a ranch and still doesn't speak English himself because, "the cows don't understand English, either.")
The competition includes children of financial and academic privilege (the parents of a student from San Clemente, California, hire French and German tutors to help with words from those derivations) and children who seem to have only their natural abilities to aid them (a child from the Washington D.C. housing projects receives a dictionary from a teacher and is told, "I guess you can start anywhere in here.")
The students vary in levels of natural giftedness, but all show a dedication to their task. Some of them practice up to eight hours a day, to the exclusion of everything else.
Not only does the movie present a competition with only one winner, it records students talking about singular excellence in other areas. More than one of the students speak of the United States as the best nation on earth. (A child whose family comes from India states, "In India, there are no second chances. In America, everyone gets a second chance.") We also see the religious background of some of the children. A boy named George gives priorities for life, clearly stating that the number one priority in life should be Jesus. Many of these students have a clear idea that just as they want to be the best speller (one says, "I can't be the best horseback rider among my friends or the best voice in my choir, but this is something I can be the best at."), there are areas of life where they should make judgments about what is the best thing.
Some students don't hope to be the champion, but do hope to make it to the final round, covered by ESPN. Why does ESPN cover the National Spelling Bee? I don't want to make the argument that spelling bees are sports (especially since I'm not firmly convinced in my own mind that bowling and golf are sports), but it certainly is competition--sometimes a fierce and near-brutal competition (one child jokes about one mother calling the Bee "child abuse"). A single misspoken letter takes a child out of the competition.
All of this leads to the question, "Is competition a good or bad thing?" Well, we can look to Scripture. In the words of Paul, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to gain a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." (1 Corinthians 9:24-25, NIV)
This film provided me with a new appreciation of that Scripture. Fortunately, we do not face a judge ready to ring a bell and send us away after a single mistake; our judge is a loving father who wants us to succeed. But we still need to strive for excellence, which does take dedication and discipline.
Spellbound was nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002. Among the extras on the DVD are updates on all the profiled spellers, as well as commentary from the filmmakers. It's worth the effort to find this true story full of suspense and humor (as a bonus, keep a sharp lookout for perhaps the only wholesome visual gag in film history involving a Hooters franchise).
Movie Review: Spellbinding
Summary: 5 Stars
Hitchcock did not direct this and it does not star Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. Spellbound (1945) and Spellbound (2002) have in common the fact that they both won Academy Awards and both are spellbinding.
Director Jeffrey Blitz's approach to making this most interesting documentary is straight-forward: pick eight contestants. Produce a mini-documentary on each one of them with scenes from family life, school. Interview their teachers, their parents, and some of their friends so that we get to know the contestants. Show the town they live in and the land they grew up on. Cut each mini-documentary to a few minutes and run them one after the other before taking us to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Film the spelling bee and show the eight in action along with some of the other 242 or so who made it to the Capitol. Start with round one. Show the officials, the people who read the words to the contestants and answer questions about the words, such as word origin, definition, pronunciation, and root. Show the eager parents. Show the kids on stage with wrinkled brow and sweaty hands--well, you can't show the sweaty hands, although one mother reported that her hands got all wet when her daughter's turn came and then got all dry afterwards. Get some shots of the kids talking. Show the faces with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat
And guess what? The film plays itself. It's a natural. We identify with the contestants, perhaps have our favorite. The tension builds. The hour and a half flies by. The spelling bee is a great spectator sport!
Another thing I liked about this was the fact that although the eager parents would put your usual stage moms or little league dads to shame in the way they pushed their kids, when it was over, it was over. A couple of the kids said they were disappointed not to have won, but what a relief it was not to have to study the dictionary anymore! Of course there is always next year, but unlike baseball and the Broadway stage, you can grow too old to compete in the spelling bee--although now that I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised to find that they have adult spelling bees, maybe even spelling bees for senior citizens.
Another nice thing is the view Blitz gives us of the Heartland. The film amounts to a glimpse of America the melting pot near the beginning of the 21st Century (the contest is from 1999).
Also educational were insights into the way the kids learned to be excellent spellers. They memorized, yes, but they also learned which letters were likely to be correct for certain sounds based on the language of origin of the word. Greek words--there a lot of scientific Greek words in the dictionary--almost always have every letter pronounced (although watch out for those silent leading "m's"!). French words are just the opposite. I used to teach honors English and I can tell you that half the kids could out-spell me. The best kid I had just seemed to do it naturally. I realized however after talking to him that his approach was phonetic to start. That was the default. Every word that could be spelled correctly phonetically he noted and put aside in his mind. (His habit was to notice the spelling of every new word he encountered.) If the word was not spelled phonetically, it was an exception and he noted why it was an exception and dreamed up some mnemonic--silent leading m!--device to remember the exception. I could never spell a word like "lieutenant" (French) until I also developed a mnemonic device. In this case I made a sentence out of the word: "Lie-u-tenant" or I found the little words within: "lie," ... "ten," "ant."
Spellbound won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2002, and it's that good. People and especially young people can identify (or not!) with kids their own age, and they can choose their favorites to root for.
Movie Review: Hugely enjoyable documentary...A MUST SEE!
Summary: 5 Stars
SPELLBOUND is a highly entertaining documentary. My young daughter, and some of her friends, were introduced to the idea of a "documentary" with this film.It follows eight children who are all headed to the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC. We meet kids from all places (Texas, California, Florida, DC, Pennsylvania, etc.) and backgrounds (children of poor Mexican immigrants, children of wealth in New Haven, etc.) and genders, of course. They are a delightful range of children, and getting to spend a little time with each is a blast. We meet all eight during the first half of the film, and naturally, everyone will be rooting for their favorites and "placing bets" on who will win.
The second half follows their grueling time at the finals. We've seen these kids at their most relaxed, and now we get to see them at their most stressed. We feel for them and sometimes, if we're lucky enough to know how to spell the word, we try to "feed" them the spelling.
It feels like a TV-reality show without the annoying host and without the artificiality of those shows. This is real and this is objective. Either the word is spelled right or it isn't. No "immunity challenges" or eating gross things or letting the audience vote. These young kids (11 to 14 years old, mostly) are totally on their own. We've seen them training and studying (some to amazing extremes) but in the end, it's just them against the word.
The filmmakers found a great slice of children to work with. Emily comes from priviledge in New Haven, CT, and she's bouncy, speaks like an adult, has lots of interests and is both annoying and endearing at once. Nick comes from a seemingly well-to-do Indian or Pakistani background, and his father is driving him to succeed. His dad puts nearly as much time into the prep as Nick does...and he's hired tutors and language experts. You're never sure if Nick is all that interested in winning, but Dad sure is. On the other side, there's Angela, whose Hispanic parents don't even speak English. She lives in a small time and has to be her own motivator. She is doing it FOR her parents, to show them their sacrifices were worthwhile, but she seems more like a "regular" kid her age. Then there's Harry, a manic 12 year old who can't stop talking and bouncing around and making faces. Here's a kid who probably always had a hard time making friends. It looks like he only has a mother on the scene, so no doubt he is troubled on many levels. This bee seems to be a way to keep pouring enough stimulus into his active mind to keep him even slightly calm!
Anyway, as with the best documentaries, we know that things will NOT turn out neat and tidy like in a fictional film. We hope things will go a certain way, but alas, they rarely do. How things DO turnout is another matter, and it's what makes the film fun. In the end, we find that we don't really "care" who wins all that much...we just feel for the kids, and take pride in their achievements and feel bad for their disappointments. And we feel good about the "next generation." These kids, quirky as many are, can be seen as a little slice of what is around the corner for our country...and the weirdnesses of Harry aside, things look pretty good. These are DECENT kids, and capable and joyful and good. It's a shame they can't all win the contest, but they are certainly all winners.
I highly recommend this G-rated film for EVERYONE. I can't imagine one single viewer not being highly entertained and involved in this outstanding movie.
PS: The DVD doesn't have loads of extras, but it does have a "where are they now" section that is WELL worth taking a look at after the film. It just affirms all the good things we feel about these kids.
Movie Review: If This Isn't "Reality" Programming, Then Nothing Qualifies!
Summary: 5 Stars
2002's "Spellbound" is a nail-biting documentary, which follows eight young contestants as they prepare to enter the 1999 National Spelling Bee Championship in Washington, D.C.The pressure mounts for all eight of these charming young spellers (as well as for their tense parents -- well, maybe even MORE so in the case of a few of the parents) as each one wins his or her regional competition, and makes it all the way to the "Big One" in Washington.
You can really feel the nervous anxiety and the stress that these kids are experiencing as the camera zooms in on them while spelling these seemingly impossible-to-figure-out words. You'll find yourself rooting for them, right along with their anxious parents in the audience.
Amazingly, I found that I was actually able to spell a couple of the dictionary behemoths that were offered up during the competition. Of course, less than 1% of the monster words you'll find in a National Spelling Bee are words you've ever even remotely heard of before....and certainly none of these words would *ever* come up in a casual dinner conversation at home (or even at a dinner party hosted by Albert Einstein, I would surmise). But, the kids that participate in these "Bees" are prepared for virtually anything it seems.
Three of the top eight spellers at the '99 National Bee are among the 8 boys and girls featured in some depth during this 97-minute documentary film, including the eventual winner.
I was rooting for each and every one of these nice kids. It's a shame they couldn't all get a trophy. But those that were eliminated took it in stride, showing a great deal of poise and sportsmanship. All of these young folks showed a lot of class -- and I truly *don't* think it was solely based on the fact that there was a camera in their face the whole time. I felt these kids would have reacted in the same classy manner had there not been a documentary being made about them.
This DVD offers up some rather interesting Special Features, too .... including some "Bonus Footage", which is a nice, healthy 24-minute-long segment focusing on three additional spelling-bee contestants.
There's also a filmmaker's Audio Commentary Track, the Theatrical Trailer, as well as some informative text screens on the spellers, including a "Where Are They Now?" section.
In addition, there are also some DVD-ROM features, including a fun "Hangman" game. Even if you don't have a DVD-ROM computer drive, you can still get to the "Deluxe Hangman Challenge!" game by going to the following web address:
http://spellboundmovie.com/dvd/hangman/
Aspect Ratio is Full Frame (1.33:1), with a 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo soundtrack.
"Spellbound" is indeed a "spellbinding" motion picture. The ultimate "reality" film. So sit back and enjoy this excellent movie...and learn a few new words to boot (you'll never use them, but, what the heck). :)
Oh, and if anybody ever tells you that you're positively "callipygian" -- don't haul off and hit 'em with a frying pan. It's a very nice compliment. Really, it is. Look it up. ;)
Movie Review: I-AM-A-MUSICAL-ROBOT!
Summary: 5 Stars
This extraordinary documentary follows eight youngsters as they prepare for the 1999 annual National Spelling Bee. If you've ever watched it on ESPN, then you've seen the unique spellers who often last to the final stages. "Spellbound" highlights brilliantly the ways in which these youngsters and their families are exceptional. The eight youngsters, their families, and their hometowns are profiled separately; these narratives are by turns funny, inspiring, and heart-wrenching. Among the more amazing stories is Angela Arevivar, whose parents came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico and don't speak English. Her father, however, sees clearly that Angela's success justifies leaving his home country, and he accompanies her proudly to the bee. Aside from these emotionally resonant stories, young Harry Altman nearly steals the show with his wacky humor, including his bizarre imitation of a musical robot. After introducing the youths and their families, the documentary accounts the actual bee. The tension is nearly unbearable when the spellers are given a difficult word, and seeing them eliminated is heart-wrenching. The documentary swells to a remarkable finale, due to the skillful editing by Yana Gorskaya and the debut work of director, Jeffrey Blitz. In addition, "Spellbound" is filled with amazing triumphs and heart-breakers. Hearing Ashley White's single, disadvantaged mother explain that the greatest moment of her life was seeing her daughter crowned champion at the city spelling bee is sure to leave a lump in your throat. Another warm moment is when a mother discusses how her child is somewhat of an outcast in her school but that she's popular at the bee. These children have managed to find ways of belonging and succeeding despite their quirks, which elevates further the amazing nature of their accomplishments.
"Spellbound" was Oscar-nominated for best documentary in 2003, losing to the flashier but less deserving "Bowling for Columbine." A truly excellent documentary exposes fundamental truths about us or our nation, and "Spellbound" certainly passes this litmus test. By following youngsters from a variety of backgrounds, nothing short of the American Dream is revealed. Ultimately, "Spellbound" is fantastic and perhaps the most touching and profound documentary of its kind since "Hoop Dreams." A most highly recommended film experience!
Extras: 1) Biographies and "where are they now" information for each speller. 2) A fascinating commentary featuring the director, producer, and editor. 3) Synopses of three spelling bee contestants who were not featured in the final cut of the documentary. The stories of these three spellers are probably not as compelling as the eight youngsters highlighted in the main documentary, although young Bradley Feldman's unrequited crush on his teen-aged spelling coach is terrific.