ate 1mdhigtn ilq ART S MONDAY JULY 7, 2003 www.michigandaily.com 'Spellbound' simply spellbinding SCOTT By Joel Hoard Daily Arts Editor SERILLA I can still vividly remember studying for my elementary school spelling bees, scrupulously poring over a black and yellow booklet full of long and complicated words, words that I would never, could never and should never use. Although I never accomplished nearly as much on the spelling bee circuit as the eight Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee participants featured in "Spellbound," I can see a lot of my 10-year-old self in them - the meticulous nature, the need- less studying, the belief that it somehow mattered in the grand scheme of life. With time, I came to realize, as these kids may someday, the inher- ent absurdity of spelling bees and, to a greater extent, ESPN's thor- ough coverage of the national event. But the innocence and obliv- iousness exuded by the "Spell- bound" kids only adds to their charm. There's still plenty of time for them to turn into jaded misan- thropes, but for now, if the kids want to spell, then let them spell. It's under that premise that Jeff Blitz's "Spellbound" operates, serving as nei-_______________ ther a promotion S b nor a chastise- Spellbound1 ment of spelling AttheState Theaterl bee culture. ThinkFilm, Inc. Rather, it pro- vides an enthusiastic yet unbiased look at a peculiar phenomenon and its equally peculiar participants. But peculiar doesn't even begin to describe some of them. Take, for example, Harry Altman, a child of no more than 10 years, who is already laden with enough charac- ter quirks to populate a dozen Wes Anderson films. It's hard not to Harry Potter ruined my 4ife Meet Harry Altman, the Mark Fldrych of spelling. smile as he shifts his thoughts and Texas town. attention rapidly; he peppers his But perhaps the most telling speech with nervous, unsettling moment doesn't involve anyone laughter and strange robotic nois- overcoming difficult odds. It es; and he screws up his face and involves Neil Kadakia, an East talks to himself between each letter Indian boy living in an affluent as he struggles to spell "banns," Orange County neighborhood. His which, in his opinion, the modera- parents would be considered over- tor mispronounced. bearing and controlling by some, Still, for all of their eccentrici- as Neil studies spelling with his ties, the children involved are gen- father for several hours a day and uine kids who have been raised by spends additional time with genuine parents. Blitz does his spelling coaches. His father would part by taking a hands-off like nothing more than to see his approach and avoiding sensational- son win it all in Washington, but ism, allowing his subjects to when Neil fails to meet his expec- emerge as truly authentic people. tations, he isn't met with the kind He shares stories ranging from the of scorn or disapproval you'd find humorous - like that of Nupur in bad fiction. Instead, his father Lala, a girl who found herself out- greets him with a smile and a hug. spelling three very jealous boys in Itsis moments like these that a regional bee, only to be praised make "Spellbound" such a pleasure by a sign at a local Hooters restau- to watch. The personalities and rant exclaiming "Congradulations back stories of these very unique, Nupur!" - to the inspirational - engaging and talented children are such as Angela Arenivar, daughter compelling enough to suppress the of Mexican immigrants who ludicrousness of even the National scarcely speak any English, who Spelling Bee itself. Spell on, you taught herself to succeed in a rural crazy diamonds. Let's say, hypothetically, a certain 21- year-old college junior got really bored last X-mas break. Really bored. And while he had any number of internship applications to start chipping away at, and an ever-increasing pile of enriching, age-appropriate books at his fingertips (many of which he had been meaning to get at for months, others which had literally just been handed to him as gifts), let's say he, on the advice of his 10-year-old cousin read four Harry Potter books in just under four and a half days (the cousin, a born enabler, loaned the books). That's 1837 pages of reading, which averages out to 408.222 per day. That's not really impressive, but keep in mind that our hypothetical friend has to struggle to complete even a portion of his required academic reading load when classes are in session. Rarely has this kid, who, by the u way, doesn't necessari -. ly exist, ever devote himself with this much gusto to reading for pleas- ure or school or, well, to anything at all. He could be, in fact, writing a long ago promised column well after his deadline right at this very moment. While you should keep that old not-believing every- thing-you-read-in-newspa- pers mantra in mind right now, this imaginary kid obviously has a problem. Not that he holds any fundamentalist grudges against J.K. Rowling for spreading Satanism or that he really thinks he's above reading a children's book (as Huck Finn author Mark Twain once pointed out, a good children's book should appeal "to a boy and anyone who has ever been a boy"). It seems reasonable that somebody could enjoy a bit of junk food after a healthy diet, but what our likely non- existent college boy is doing amounts to gorging himself. He must force himself to read the books half because he wants no one to see him carrying a Harry Potter book (perhaps fear of a nerd stigma or fear that hardcore fans will approach and try to befriend him and invite him to play D&D all night) and because he is legiti- mately addicted (i.e. despite himself cares about H.P., Ron and Hermione). And purely for the sake of argument, let's alltry very hard to imagine that this guy might have pre-ordered a copy of the brand new "Order of the Phoenix" many months ago, read the nearly 900-page book as soon as it hit his doorstep with the same rapid pace as the other books, but refused to write a prop- er review of the book for the student newspa- per he works at for fear that his peers might hear of it. I need help. 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