Let's get one thing out of the way at the beginning of this review. "Spellbound" is a documentary about a spelling bee. Yes, director Jeff Blitz has made an entire film revolving around eight young kids from across the country who travel to Washington, D.C. to compete in the 1999 National Spelling Bee. Most people probably couldn't imagine a more unexciting topic than spelling, but I can say with utter conviction that "Spellbound" is a riveting film from start to finish.
You may be asking yourself how on earth could a documentary about a spelling bee could be even remotely interesting. The answer is that "Spellbound" lovingly examines a fascinating and completely overlooked subculture, revealing a group of kids and parents who range from quirky to psychotic. In this way, "Spellbound" is similar to other films such as "Best in Show" or "A Mighty Wind," in which the eccentricities and oddities of a fringe group are meticulously examined and mined for a seemingly endless supply of laughs. What makes "Spellbound" unique is that the characters in the movie are not actors, contributing further to the audience's enjoyment.
Alright, enough setting up and introducing. Let's meet the kids in the film, who are amusingly presented on screen in order of decreasing sanity, with the most normal children appearing first.
First off we have Angela, a sweet-looking girl who is the daughter of Mexican immigrants that have settled in a small town in the Texas panhandle. Angela's story is one of the film's most affecting, as much is made of the fact that her father cannot speak English, making Angela's achievement as a local spelling bee champion that much more significant. Although she does spend her spare time making odd posters of spelling bee words, she's still one of the most normal kids of this bunch.
The film continues, maintaining the theme of local small-town champions by introducing Nupur, a quiet Indian girl from Florida and Ted, a soft-spoken and somewhat hulky-looking kid from Missouri. The first kid from an actual big city doesn't arrive until Ashley, a cute young black girl from one of the lower-income areas of Washington D.C., is introduced. Each of these kids seems well-adjusted, happy and normal, but the audience shouldn't be fooled. It's at this point in the movie that some of the more "quirky" characters begin to appear.
First, there's April, a mousy-looking girl from Pennsylvania who spends all her time studying for the spelling bee. During her summer vacation, she studied nine hours each day in preparation for the bee, even refusing to go to the mall with her friends one Friday night for fear of missing a precious few hours of study. Despite her parents pleading for April to have a little fun, she is determined to dedicate her life to winning the spelling bee.
In contrast, Neil, an East Indian boy living in California, actually seems like a perfectly normal, obedient son. It's the boy's parents who are completely crazy, urging their son to put the maximum amount of effort in to winning the competition. Neil's father hires French, Spanish, German and Latin language tutors simply to teach his son all the possible foreign words or word derivations that might come up during the spelling bee, and consequently, these tutors put the young boy through an average of 7000 words each night. Things get even loopier when Neil's father confides that he has paid hundreds of priests in India to continuously chant prayers for Neil's success, and that if perchance Neil happens to win the entire spelling bee, 5000 poor people will receive donations of food on his behalf. Much to the audience's enjoyment, Neil's father seems oblivious to the absurdity of it all throughout the film, unaware that having thousands of hungry people on his son's conscience probably isn't doing much to help relieve any pressure.
The lunacy comes full circle with the highlighting of Harry, a 10-year-old boy from New Jersey who is briefly introduced in the opening clip of the film. Harry is a walking jumble of neuroses, a wise-cracking, expressive, talkative tyke who likes imitating musical robots, and he's clearly the star of the show. Despite navigating through the spelling bee competition with difficult words such as "phallalgia," Harry meets his downfall with the elusive "banns," and as he struggles to spell this word for the judges he puts on the performance of a lifetime. He grimaces, he squirms, he fidgets, he filibusters and he starts to have a conversation with himself, all as he stands on stage being watched by millions on ESPN. It's this kind of wondrously ludicrous moment that is the essence of "Spellbound," and makes the movie so enjoyable to watch.
Even though the film is filled with plenty of laughs, the audience can't help getting caught up in the stories of the eight kids, and by the end of the movie everyone is rooting for all of the contestants to win. No matter how ridiculous things get, the movie is grounded by a warmth and charm that is integral to the depictions of the contestants and their families. "Spellbound" is a funny, moving and utterly gripping film that brings out the inner nerd in us all.
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