True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Spellbound
An amazingly spellbinding drama. You follow a dozen elementary school
students who memorize the dictionary and beyond, practicing for years
in order to spell words they – and you! – have never even heard of. Their
ordinary parents are awestruck, the kids are driven, and the outcome is
totally unpredictable. Only one kid will survive the National Spelling Bee.
Will it be the one whose Indian parents have hired three foreign language
coaches, or the girl whose dad does not even speak English? Or the boy
with the stutter? It’s a fantastic journey into a subculture that is uniquely
American, yet invisible and marginal. Since you are on the edge of your
seat most of the film, it even changes your ideas about spelling.
By Jeffrey Blitz
2002, 97 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Their faces say it all, as they halt and search for the correct
next letter. One father, whose village back in India is praying
for his son, adds his own prayers as his son’s turn arrives.
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