Akeelah Anderson can spell.

She can spell better than anyone in her school in South Central Los Angeles, and she might have a chance at the nationals. Who can say? She sees the National Spelling Bee on S!N and is intrigued. But she is also "ary, because in her school there is danger in being labeled a #brainiac,# and it$s "iser to keep your smarts to yoursel%. &his is a tragedy in some predominantly black schools' (cellence is punished by the other students, possibly as an e(pression o% their o"n lo" sel%)esteem. &he thing "ith Akeelah *+eke !almer, is that she can spell, "hether she "ants to or not. Beating time "ith her hand against her thigh as sort o% a metronome, she cranks out the letters and arrives triumphantly at the "ords. No, she doesn$t have a photographic memory, nor is she channeling the occult as the heroine o% #Bee Season# does. She$s -ust a good speller. &he story o% Akeelah$s ascent to the %inals o% the National Spelling Bee makes an uncommonly good movie, entertaining and actually inspirational, and "ith a %e" tears along the "ay. .er real chance at national success comes a%ter a reluctant nglish pro%essor agrees to act as her coach. &his is /r. 0oshua Larabee *Laurence 1ishburne,, on a leave o% absence a%ter the death o% his daughter. Coaching her is a "ay out o% his o"n shell. And %or 1ishburne, it$s a reminder o% his "ork in #Searching %or Bobby 1ischer# *2334,, another movie "here he coached a prodigy. Akeelah is mocked not only at school. .er o"n mother is against her. &anya Anderson *Angela Bassett, has issues a%ter the death o% her husband, and values Akeelah$s home"ork above all else, including silly a%terschool activities like spelling bees. Akeelah practices in secret, and a%ter she "ins a %e" bees even the tough kids in the neighborhood start cheering %or her. +eke !almer, a young Chicago actress "hose %irst role "as as 5ueen Lati%ah$s niece in #Barbershop 6,# becomes an important young star "ith this movie. 7t puts her in /akota 1anning and 1lora Cross territory, and there$s something about her poise and sel%)possession that hints she "ill gro" up to be a considerable actress. &he movie depends on her, and she deserves its trust. So %ar 7 imagine #Akeelah and the Bee# sounds like a nice but %airly conventional movie. What makes it transcend the material is the "ay she relates to the pro%essor, and to t"o %ello" contestants' a 8e(ican)American named 0avier *0.9. :illarreal, and an Asian American named /ylan *Sean 8ichael A%able,. 0avier, "ho lives "ith his %amily in the upscale Woodland .ills neighborhood, invites Akeelah to his birthday party *una"are o% "hat a long bus trip it involves,. /ylan, driven by an obsessive %ather, treats the spelling bee like li%e)and)death, and takes no hostages. .earing his %ather berate him, Akeelah %eels an instinctive sympathy. And as %or 0avier$s %eelings %or Akeelah, at his party, he impulsively kisses her. #Why$d you do that?# she asks him. #7 had an impulse. Are you gonna sue me %or se(ual harassment?# &he sessions bet"een Akeelah and the pro%essor are crucial to the %ilm, because he is teaching her not only strategy but ho" to be "illing to "in. No, he doesn$t use sel%)help cliches. .e is

demanding, uncompromising, and he tells her again and again' #;ur deepest %ear is that "e are po"er%ul beyond measure.# &his <uote, o%ten attributed to Nelson 8andela, is actually %rom 8arianne Williamson, but no less true %or Akeelah *the movie does not attribute it,. No" 7 am going to start dancing around the plot. Something happens during the %inals o% the National Bee that you are not going to see coming, and it may move you as deeply as it did me. 7$ve o%ten said it$s not sadness that touches me the most in a movie, but goodness. =nder enormous pressure, at a crucial moment, Akeelah does something good. 7ts results 7 "ill leave you to discover. What is ingenious about the plot construction o% "riter)director /oug Atchison is that he creates this moment so that "e understand "hat$s happening, but there$s no "ay to say %or sure. ven the -udges sense or suspect something. But Akeelah, improvising in the moment and out o% her heart, makes it air)tight. &here is only one person "ho absolutely must understand "hat she is doing, and "hy )) and he does. &his ending ans"ers one o% my problems "ith spelling bees, and spelling bee movies. 7t removes "inning as the only ob-ective. :ince Lombardi "as dead "rong "hen he said, #Winning isn$t everything. 7t$s the only thing# *a <uote, by the "ay, %irst said not by Lombardi but in the 234>s by =CLA coach .enry #9ed# Sanders )) but since everybody thinks Lombardi said it, he "on, 7 guess,. &he saying is mistaken because to "in %or the "rong reason or in the "rong "ay is to lose. Something called sportsmanship is involved. 7n our "inning)obsessed culture, it is inspiring to see a young "oman like Akeelah Anderson instinctively understand, "ith empathy and generosity, that doing the right thing involves more than "inning. &hat$s "hat makes the %ilm particularly valuable %or young audiences. 7 don$t care i% they leave the theater "anting to spell better, but i% they have learned %rom Akeelah, they "ill "ant to live better. Akeelah *+eke !almer, is an eleven)year)old seventh grader at a black middle school in South Los Angeles$ Crensha" district. Although she has a best %riend, she %eels lonely and isolated at school. .er mother &anya *Angela Bassett, "orks as a nurse and has her hands %ull. ;ne o% her sons is in the Air 1orce and the other is already in trouble on the streets. Akeelah$s %ather "as shot "hile coming home %rom "ork and died "hen she "as -ust si(. At school, her teacher */alia !hillips, reali?es that Akeelah has a special gi%t %or spelling and encourages her to sign up %or the school$s spelling bee, a suggestion %urther encouraged by her principal, 8r. Welch *Curtis Armstrong,, "ho "ould love to have his poverty)stricken school look good in the district. But Akeelah doesn$t "ant to come across as a #brainiac# to her classmates. And besides, she says, she doesn$t even like her school and doesn$t see "hy she should represent it. All this resistance is -ust masking her lo" sel%)esteem. But she does compete and easily "ins. 8r. Welch has invited /r. Larabee *Laurence 1ishburne,, a pro%essor %rom =LCA and a %ormer spelling bee champ, to the event. .e is impressed "ith Akeelah but, despite her "onder%ul memory, he is not convinced that she has the discipline and creativity it takes to make it to the nationals in Washington /.C. =nimpressed "ith her street lingo and attitude, he turns her a"ay "hen she comes to him %or coaching. When he %inally agrees to "ork "ith her, he reali?es "hat

she really needs and asks her to read a %ramed <uotation he has on his o%%ice "all. We recogni?ed it as 8arianne Williamson$s %rom A Return to Love' #;ur deepest %ear is not that "e are inade<uate, our deepest %ear is that "e are po"er%ul beyond measure. 7t is our light, not our darkness, that most %rightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am 7 to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, %abulous? Actually "ho are you not to be? . . . We "ere born to make mani%est the glory o% @od that is "ithin us.# Writer and director /oug Atchison$s screenplay %or Akeelah and the Bee "on the Nicholl 1ello"ship in Screen"riting competition sponsored by the Academy o% 8otion !icture Arts and Sciences. 7t vividly conveys the con%lict "ithin this A%rican)American teenager "ho is given a chance to display her special talent but is %rightened to do so. She is alienated %rom the place "here she lives and has bought into the idea that nothing good can come out o% a run)do"n school and a community "here people don$t care about each other. &hat$s "hy she$s been skipping classes and not applying hersel%. But she has one thing going %or her' the inspiration o% her dead %ather "ho loved "ords and al"ays encouraged her. &he relationship that develops bet"een Akeelah and /r. Larabee, an intellectual "ith his o"n private struggle, is emotionally a%%ecting given ho" much they come to depend on each other. &he pro%essor teaches her about "ord construction, etymologies, and mnemonic tricks. 7n one o% the best scenes, he sho"s her ho" small "ords hold the key to breaking do"n the "inning "ords used in the %inal rounds o% spelling bees. 7t$s also a pleasure to "atch Akeelah develop a %riendship "ith 0avier *09. :illarreal,, a .ispanic competitor "ho develops a crush on her. Although everyone hates /ylan Chiu *Sean 8ichael A%able,, an Asian prodigy "ith a tyrannical %ather *&?i 8a,, her heart goes out to this driven boy "ho lives under incredible pressure. Although "e loved Spellbound, the documentary about the National Spelling Bee, and "ere moved by last year$s Bee Season, Akeelah and the Bee moves out beyond the spelling bee circuit and turns into a %ilm about a "hole community. &his thematic richness and the e(<uisite per%ormance by +eke !almer makes this one o% the best %ilms o% the year. ;ne source o% Akeelah$s initial alienation is that she %eels cut o%% %rom her community. But "hen she <uali%ies %or the nationals in Washington and /r. Larabee cuts her loose, giving her %our yello" bo(es %ull o% cards "ith "ords to learn, she is %orced to %ind help "herever she can A %rom her %amily, %riends, classmates, and neighbors. 7n one o% the most surprising scenes, a drug dealer shares that he "on a contest in grade school %or "riting a poemB he promises to share it "ith her i% she "ins in Washington. Better than that, he and his gang help her prepare. Long be%ore the %inal competition, Akeelah has claimed her po"er and seen it nurtured by her "hole community. She has stepped into the spotlight as a brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and %abulous child o% @od. And "e, in the audience, %eel -ust like her.