A spell in the spotlight

Jeff Blitz's astonishing documentary follows eight children in their early teens as they prepare for, and take part in, the US competition, the National Spelling Bee. As they progress from their regional competitions to the televised finals in Washington, they are shown researching and testing themselves, romping through well-thumbed dictionaries and running the spellcheck gauntlet.

Had this been the sum of it, this would have made a mildly interesting film about competitive children. But Spellbound explores the family background of each child, stealthily revealing the roots of their obsession. The result is a powerful, moving and often very funny exploration of what it is to be an American.

Widely differing in social class, ethnic origin and levels of wealth, the families show support for their children in many different ways. Angela's story is particularly extraordinary.

A pale teenage girl with a mouthful of braces and a ready smile, she is the daughter of Mexican illegal immigrants, neither of whom speaks a word of English. Her self-taught English is impeccable and she devises methods of word-association with graphs and maps that would credit an etymology scholar. Watching her pore over her hand-made charts while her ranch-hand father rounds up the cows is unbearably moving.

Equally touching is the story of Ashley, the oldest daughter of a black single mother living in the Washington DC projects. With two uncles " incarcerated", Ashley calmly reveals that she prays to God to assist her in overcoming the many obstacles of her underprivileged position.

Then there is the hyperactive Harry and the hulking Ted, an isolated giant with a near-genius IQ and serial killer's eyes, who lives in a trailer with his parents and a brother who "loves guns".

Blitz chances upon several moments that serious documentary-makers would die for. A sign put up by the community to cheer on their local champion, a young Asian girl, reads "Congradulations Nupur". During the tense finals, the heavily pressurised Neil, a serious East Indian boy whose parents are the nightmare aspect of the American Dream, has to spell "Darjeeling" - a word entirely unknown to him.

This has much in common with Steve James's award-winning documentary Hoop Dreams as it pursues and records the moment-to-moment responses of young people struggling to improve their lot, and in doing so reveals a penetrating socio-cultural study of contemporary America through a competition described by one parent as "a form of child abuse". Briliant.

Spellbound
Cert: U