Spellbound

Spellbound

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DVD Reviews of Spellbound

DVD Review: Hilarious, honest, and immensely moving - instant classic!
Summary: 5 Stars

I can clearly remember describing this movie to a friend over dinner one night: "Well, it basically is a documentary that follows eight kids around as they get ready for the National Spelling Bee, and you meet their parents and learn about their lives and then watch them compete." The response I wasn't expecting: "And that's interesting how?" Well, to say that filmmaker Jeff Blitz's documentary is interesting is a gross understatement. In 90 minutes, he covers so much territory with eight quirky kids, it's necessary to remind yourself to breathe at times. Spellbound begins with a simple structure: a brief look into the lives of each of the eight kids. We meet Angela Arenivar, an hispanic teenager whose immigrant father dreams of success and happiness for his family. Or Ted Brigham, a shy, awkward kid who gets annoyed because, "There are only four or five really smart kids in my grade." And then there's Harry Altman. Ahh, Harry. Ritalin has found its poster-child, America.

What you might notice about the film as it unassumingly unfolds is that it somewhat resembles a Christopher Guest movie. The owners of the Arenivar farm recall a much older Fred and Ethel Mertz. The mother of teen April DeGideo sits and chats while the family dog affectionately licks her leg (getting no reaction from her). Competitor Neal Kadakia's father has (unintentionally) comically promised to feed 5,000 hungry Indians if his son wins. The beautiful catch: these are all real people, and it makes for a constantly funny, intriguing experience. And then there are those moments early on in Spellbound that smack you like a ton of bricks: Ashley White, a young black girl that proclaims herself a "prayer warrior" as she bows at the dinner table; or April's dad, who sums up the 'success story' of his life by saying, "I went from one side of the tracks to the other," (he's speaking literally). While Harry Altman screeches "DOES this SOUND like a MU-SI-CAL RO-BOT?", we are also left with deeply resonant moments that can't find words to describe them.

Just like in a fictional Christopher Guest movie, it all comes down to the big event for which everyone has been waiting, and Blitz doesn't disappoint in the culminating tautly edited but fluidly sustained National Spelling Bee section of the film. The mark of a great storyteller is that they can make anything interesting, and Blitz cuts the film so that each and every word for each and every one of those eight kids takes on the suspenseful quality of that final game of a sports movie. What I liked the most about the marvelous second half of the film, all leading up to one of the eight kids that becomes the winner, is how it takes time to look back at the contestants before that possibly deadly word is spelled. Often, as the spellers stand deliberating, time freezes and we'll see earlier footage of maybe that child's parents proclaiming how proud they are of their kid, discussing their idea of the American dream, or their little brother saying, "If I had blood pressure, it would have been high sky." It is in these quaint moments of frozen time that Spellbound gains the depth of a classic - it's not about the elimination of each kid until a winner emerges, but about how each child is some fragment of America, and how that Spelling Bee means more to our culture and our nation than many people realize.

I hate to make Spellbound sound like some lofty, artsy experience - because it's not. It's accessible, entertaining, and absolutely hilarious. The fact that Blitz can add such suspense and such meaning to this film makes it such a pivotal documentary for the art form. If you're like me, you might just laugh your head off the first time you see the movie. A second viewing might have you, like me, moved beyond words. Either way, you're in for something special. The bottom line: Spellbound is so good it gives me chills. GRADE: A

Description of Spellbound