Ready to Rent Ready to Rent (February 06, 2004)

Spellbound

Columbia-TriStar Home Video VHS & DVD 1 hr 37 mins Director: Jeffery Blitz

"Spellbound" is a rarity among films today, and especially documentaries, because it is a "celebratory" film without resorting to emotional moments that could have killed our involvement with the film's subjects. Director Jeffery Blitz focuses on eight children in the 1999 Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee, avoiding the "Rocky"-style melodrama by sticking to the simple aspects of the children's natures. The eight children he focuses on throughout their sixth-grade academic year are presented as, well, sixth-graders, some of whom are focused and driven, and others who are simply gifted at spelling. They are all, however, genuinely themselves, sans any theatricality played for the camera or reality-styled television.

"Spellbound" begins with introductions and ends with a winner, which the film could have done without because getting to know the contestants is the focus of this film. The children most memorable to me were Harry, who contorts his face and makes weird noises when he thinks, so his personality goes beyond nerd status into a land uniquely cool; Angela, whose Hispanic father speaks no English but is beyond words in his pride of her; and Emily, whose pessimistic and witty outlook on her and her parents' working class lives made me jealous of her outlook at 12. The film is deceptively simple, cutting back and forth between getting to know the kids and observing their study habits, some of which are eccentric to say the least. Director Blitz also, subtly, treats the parents as major players, some of whom are flabbergasted at their children's dedication to their goal.

The other shy focus of "Spellbound" is the competitive nature that Americans share. This nature is not scrutinized in the film, it is simply touched upon with strange diplomacy. Some children we find are achingly competitive, driven by their parent's pride but never to the point of embarrassment for the child. Others are simply there out of their own curiosity, wanting to see how far they could push themselves. This is why I was so disappointed that "Spellbound" showed a winner, because we did not need to see one. All the children (and this does sound cheesy) won in my eyes and, I think, the audience's as well.

As an addendum, there was a controversy when this film was released, questioning its authenticity in the way the mechanics of spelling competitions were handled from the contestant's eyes. Many ex-spellers thought that the tedium of studying and pressure was not properly presented, leading us to believe that the children in the film were super kids to whom the laws of hard work did not apply. Again, that is not the point of the film. "Spellbound" achieves in simply detailing the aspirations of its subjects within one-and-a-half hours. It may be manipulative, but it is emotionally honest. -Joe Ramirez

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