Spellbound
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 3.0
Eight students from eight different backgrounds compete to win the National Spelling Bee competition in Washington D.C. in this examination of American ambition and the unnecessary pressures some parents and some kids place upon themselves to succeed. It's very engrossing material, to be honest, and well edited, but there is something pathetic, too, about the entire thing, as no one really stands up to voice the opinion that being able to spell obscure words is a pointless ability and the contest only reinforces all the negative aspects of the American Education System. Judging from the "where are they now" part of the feature, however, it does seem to indicate that dogged determination to be the best early on in one's life never really goes away (most of the eight children are primed to be success stories); perhaps Blitz can be like Michael Apted and his Up Series, and revisit these individuals at a much later date.
