Director: Jeff Blitz
Starring: Harry Altman, Angela Arenivar, Ted Brigham, April Degideo, Neil Kadakia, Nupur Lala, Emily Stagg, Ashley White.
Country of Origin: USA
Never has spelling been taken so seriously on film as in Spellbound.
Jeffrey Blitz’s compelling documentary puts the spotlight on eight regional spelling champions from across the length and breadth of America (where else would such a contest exist?) who participate in the 1999 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee championship in Washington DC.
Blitz highlights each contestant individually in chapter-like segments, revealing their backgrounds, reasons for competing and giving their parents a platform to explain their motivations for encouraging their child to enter such a unique competition.
Unlike other US contests/events aimed at youngsters, like beauty pageants or to some degree cheerleading (both of which have been examined in film and television documentaries already) there is a modicum of intelligence required to take part in the spelling bee.
Among the eight that the documentary profiles is Angela Arenivar from Texas, whose Mexican father can’t speak English despite crossing the border into America over 20 years ago, Neil Kadakia who has three spelling coaches and an obsessive, pushy Indian father who quizzes him with frightening rapidity on thousands of words every day and Ashley White, an African American girl from the poor projects of Washington DC, who displays a remarkable tenacity and will to succeed despite not possessing the material benefits and aides that some of her competitors have at their disposal.
The disparateness of the group, and the fact that they are spread-eagled across every part of the country, gives an indication of the contest’s popularity and the high regard in which it is held.
Far more than just an insight into the peculiarities of the competition itself, Spellbound offers a captivating, unflinching view of those living out the stereotypical American Dream and those still trying to attain it.
Although it would perhaps be crude and somewhat pointless to draw parallels with Christopher Guest’s spoof documentary Best in Show (2000) which followed a collection of dog owners preparing for a national show, Spellbound does have some uneasy similarities. One set of parents in particular, those of April Degideo, are scarily close in demeanour to Gerry and Cookie Fleck, portrayed wonderfully by Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara in Guest’s film.
Spellbound is something of a sympathetic portrait given that the average spelling bee entrant is perceived as a ‘nerd’ and an outsider in the school cliques of the popular.
Some of Blitz’s chosen eight do come across as misfits, especially when their parents and teachers discuss them (sometimes quite harshly) in the background vignettes that lead up to the main contest.
The final itself is a thrilling, magnificently captured piece of filmmaking and although it would be cruel to reveal who actually wins, you can safely assume that it is one of the eight picked for the film.
As the tension mounts and the bizarre and outlandish words are assigned to various contestants it becomes impossible not to attach yourself to one in particular.
In a pressurized atmosphere – incredibly the national media seriously covers the event – Blitz does a fantastic job of capturing our attention to the point where the identity of one letter has the entire audience glued to their seat in nervous anticipation.
His superior direction makes you feel as though you’re up on the stage yourself and who would have imagined that one misspelled letter and the agonized expression of a youngster eliminated from the event would have such a gripping effect?
In a perfectly timed interlude from the drama of the final’s latter stages, past winners are interviewed; including the first from 1925, with one male winner stating humorously that winning didn’t help his love life.
Back at the contest, those who reach the last few rounds are filmed live, amazingly, on national sports channel ESPN – it turns out that this is a reason for some to take part – with commentators like those in American football, basketball and baseball speculating on who will win the event.
This type of inordinate media attention brings added pressure although most of the contestants – including some of the parents that seem to care more about the outcome of the competition than their children – accept their fate, indeed a few appear relieved their ordeal is over, upon elimination.
In what the National Spelling Bee Pronunciation Official (such a position does actually exist) calls ‘a slice of Americana’ and what is also labelled in jest as ‘a form of child abuse’ by the mother of contestant Emily Stagg, director Blitz produces a film of comedy, (both intended and unintended), compassion, profundity and genuine emotion that is an unexpected and delightful joy to watch and participate in.
Stephen Kasiewicz 