Untitled Document

"Could I hear that in a sentance?"

Angela's parents may not speak English but she is preparing for it. Neil's grandfather has paid 1000 people in India to pray for him to win it. April spends eight hours a day studying for it. Ashley has emerged from the projects to star in it. Ted isn't really bothered about going to it. Emily thinks it could be her time. Nupur plays music to relax before it and Harry tells jokes to take the edge of it. What is it? One of the most competitive events in the US calendar, The National Spelling Bee.

If anyone told you that you would be riveted watching a group of kids in a spelling contest, we prepare to be riveted.

The multi-awarding winning documentary that follows eight kids to the 1999 National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. is probably the most surprising movie you will see in a very long time. Sportsmen and women are given numerous plaudits for the rigorous training regimes they go through to prepare for a physical activity but what about mental training for an academic competition?

The documentary has picked eight National Spelling Bee contestants out of 249 entrants and we follow their progress in the competition. Now it might not seem that interesting watching what would be classed as geeky kids who are good as spelling but you soon become enthralled by the amount of dedication and commitment by shown by these 10 to 14 year-olds and their families. You can't believe how big this contest is in the US to the fact that it is shown live on their biggest sports channel ESPN.

Each kid is introduced and we find out about their background, family and the training methods employed to give them the best chance of winning the trophy. Each one of them has their own personal traits and motivations to win the big prize. Ashley wants to prove that someone from the Washington projects is just as intelligent as anyone else. Neil wants to bring pride to his family and his relatives in India. Angela wants to prove that her father's decision to move to the US to give her a better life was the right one and so on, with each contestant has a good reason for winning.

A lot of the plaudits for the documentary keeping you so riveted have to go to director Jeff Blitz and producer Sean Welch. It is like they approached this movie as a sports film but with no real obvious winner, so you form your own favourites and guess which is going to do the best or even win. This means as soon as the Bee starts you are hooked as round by round more and more of the spellers fall by the wayside until we are left with the champion.

Spellbound is a fascinating look in pure Americana. Only in the US would spelling become a national obsession but you will be drawn into their world. This is touching, funny and compulsive viewing that will have you totally captivated but wondering what half of the words they are asked to spell actually mean.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 4:3 Full Frame with a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack, the transfer is first rate. Remembering that this is a low budget documentary the sound of the interviewer is something abit quite, as they are too far away from the microphone but the interviewees dialogue is very clear, which you need for a film like this.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary from director Jeff Blitz, producer Sean Welch, Editor Yana Gorskata and assistant sound recorder Peter Brown
This very enthusiastic commentary from the filmmaker is a fun insight into documentary filmmaking. They talk about the genesis of the project and the whole American subculture surrounding the Spelling Bee. They also discuss each child in turn and how they actually took bets while filming on which ones would go furthest.

Deleted Scenes (26.34 mins)
Deleted footage of three additional spellers, Allyson from Michigan, Bradley from California and Cody from Indiana. Out of the three Allyson is probably the most interesting, as she is only ten years old and had already competed when she was nine! In the same way as the other featured contestants we are introduced to them and we see how they got on in the competition.

Epilogues (2.04 mins)
Catch up with the featured contestants and find out who returned to win in 2000. Spelling Bee Challenge Interactive spelling game to see if you could keep up with the contestants. National Literacy Association Details about the charity screen of the movie with text and images from the event.

Educational Guide and Hangman Game
Interactive DVD ROM content that will improve your spelling.

OVERALL
With an excellent commentary track and the extra spellers footage, this makes this already fascinating documentary an extremely good buy or rent. It would have been nice to have interviews with the kids now, instead of the text updates but it is still good to see how they are getting on.

DVD

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2003