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Spellbound - 4/02 - NR - 97m - DVD
Harry Altman
Angela Arenivar
Ted Brigham
April DeGideo
Neil Kadakia
Nupur Lala
Emily Stagg
Ashley White
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Studio: Think Film
Official
Website
JEF
I’m sorry to say this film did not live up to what I expected to see. I had heard so much about this film, in the media, and in some of the movie magazines I subscribe to that I wanted to see this on DVD. I don’t think this film was playing anywhere near my location at the time it was released. Or perhaps I simply overlooked it…
Storyline: The film is a documentary in its pure form. It follows 8 kids from around the country in their attempts to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee. It gives us a glimpse into their home life, and the pressures of both friends, family, even the community as these kids put incredible amounts of stress and pressure on themselves to compete in this event.
The film was not really a bad film. I did enjoy most of it as I was watching it, but it was just lacking in some basic story telling elements. Spellbound introduced us to these 8 kids, and showed us briefly what it was like to prepare for the spelling event, and yet I feel like it left out so much more. Perhaps it’s biggest flaw for me, was that there was no sense of closure. The movie ended rather abruptly, with no sort of follow up for the kids who were eliminated in the earlier rounds. I think if you are going to tell a story in a documentary format, then the ending, or follow up on each of these characters should have been included. How did they react to the loss after putting so much hard work into studying? Were they devastated? Did they shrug it off, and move on? How did their parents, and friends support them? This seemed like such a big part of the story to me, and it was just left out.
I don’t know how many viewers will be able to relate to this film either. Personally, I’m not the best speller. I rely heavily on my software to correct all my reviews as I type them in. But I like a good documentary, and the film did hold my interest through out. Yet, there was so much focus on the difficult words, and the memorization, that it started to become tedious for my brain to keep up.
I enjoyed the inside look into these kids lives. Yet, at times, I felt almost guilty in watching it because some of the images, or parents or neighbors were rather stereotypical, and somewhat insulting. It was a fine line of being entertaining, to laughing “At” someone, that made me feel uncomfortable. For example, the elderly couple, It was a very nicely filmed spot, with the woman busily knitting or crocheting away, not seeming to care that she was on film, and the husband asking her how long the family had lived there, and due to his age, or lack of hearing, he couldn’t hear her replies. It was both cute, and a bit sad at the same time. Another example was the young girl from DC, whose mother supported her and loved her dearly, yet she had a hard time speaking in English, or perhaps correct English, with an stereotypical “Ebonics” slang… again, this was both interesting to watch, yet I felt bad for how the mother was being portrayed as an almost joke, where we (the viewer) are not laughing with her, but laughing at her.
Finally, there was no real message to the documentary. Most of the documentary films that I’ve seen have some sort of message to impart. This film was just a slice of life, in some highly talented kids who knew how to spell big fancy words. That’s about it.
If you like documentary style films, or you like to spell, or you like a “slice of life” style movie then by all means check this out. If you are looking for a movie in the sense of a plot, and follow up answers, or have a sensitivity to some stereotypical portrayals of Indians (like from India, not Native Americans), or the urban mother, or the hill-billy portrayal of the people in the mid west, then perhaps it might be something to skip.
Jef
