Every year 9,000,000 kids compete in spelling bees in the United States. 249 of them make it to the National Championships in Washington D.C. Spellbound, an Academy Award-nominated documentary, follows 8 of them from their diverse homes through to the competition. The amount of work and time that these kids and their entire families put into learning the spelling of words is amazing. During the competition, the second half of the movie, I found myself holding my breath several times as one of the kids struggled over a difficult word. It wasn’t all tension, though. The theater was roaring with laughter through much of the film. Who knew the quest for the national spelling bee title could be so compelling?
p.s. i love ‘ino.