Spellbound

G	Rottentomatoes.com Rating:98%	2006
(Nothing offensive)	Picky Flicks Quote: "There’s not a frame of Spellbound that leaves you wanting to look away from the screen." -David Cornelius, efilmcritic.com	RUNTIME: 1hr. 35 mins.
Visit:www.screenit.com for complete details		Movie Mood: Assiduous

Spellbound is one of the most engrossing dramas I have ever experienced (and it is an experience). It also happens to be a documentary about spelling bees. As one reviewer put it, Spellbound “has no right to be” as “insanely involving” as it is. He’s right. Even so, it grabs you by the throat at the first little peek into the life of one of its eight spelling-obsessed subjects and doesn’t let go until the last ridiculously difficult word has been painstakingly sounded out.

There’s a chance that, as a former participant in, coach of, and grader for spelling bees (at a much lower level than the national one), I have a soft spot for nerdy subject matter like this. But that wouldn’t exactly explain Spellbound's universal appeal (check out its percentage of approval on Rotten Tomatoes) or the Oscar nod it got for Best Documentary of 2003.

Spelling bees have experienced a recent spike in popularity as fodder for movies, but whereas Akeelah and the Bee was cute and Bee Season was…well, I don’t rightly know (the reviews were bad enough that I avoided it like the title referred to the stinging rather than the spelling variety), Spellbound is riveting. I can’t even explain why exactly, except to say that it does an admirable job of tapping into that universal voyeurism that makes us crane our necks at car wrecks (a car wreck would be a good metaphor for at least one of the kid’s lives, by the way).

Not only that, but, miraculously enough, the movie manages to choose and follow eight contestants who are true contenders in Scripps National Spelling Bee—the pinnacle of orthographical (spelling-related) accomplishment.

Certainly, some of the contestants are eliminated relatively early, but there also just might be a winner among them, which is pretty phenomenal when you think about the odds in relationship to the number of participants. The movie also does a good job of choosing an interesting cross-section of the junior-high age participants that flock to the contest every year to spell their hearts out for a chance at fame, fortune, glory, and self-worth (the last more than any of the others, really; $10,000 is hardly a fortune these days, and the fame and glory are minimal and short-lived). There are four boys and fours girls, some National Spelling Bee veterans and others newbies. Some practice 8-10 hours a day while others seem to think that nothing more than their natural smarts and charisma will carry them into the upper echelons of pre-adolescent spelling stardom.

Most notable of the latter strategists is Harry Altman, a hyper motormouth of a kid (Mr. Car Crash himself) whose verbal diarrhea is at first amusing but wears out its welcome before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (much less spell it; I was two letters off on my first attempt, by the way, and yes, I did spell check it).

Then there’s Angela Arenivar, the daughter of illegal, non-English-speaking immigrants from Mexico who (obviously) must do all of her bee preparation on her own. The others are a mishmash of various family situations and personalities, and some stories are more compelling than others. But no matter their circumstances (single parents, two overbearing parents, spelling-focused, or renaissance kid), each contestant has one thing in common—a burning desire to be the number one speller in the nation in 1999.

And once the movie transfers its focus to footage of the actual bee, the suspense skyrockets. That a movie about preteens spelling words like “hirsute” (an easy one that means “hairy”) and “triskaidekaphobia” (a little harder; it means “fear of the number 13”), could be such a nail-biter is a little hard to fathom until you watch the movie for yourself. It’s amazing how much of the crackling tension and nerves translate from these poor kids’ faces and mannerisms through the screen and into the viewer’s living room.

But enough of my ebullience (a fancy word for enthusiasm; note the double l’s). Check out Spellbound for yourself. I promise you won’t feel oikotropic (that’s “regretful” in normal-person terms).

Until next Wednesday, stay picky! Your mind will thank you later.