Akeelah and the Bee

'Akeelah and the communi-Bee'

Holy crap, what a lame subtitle. Anyway, despite the terribly created subtitle, Akeelah is infinitely better. Akeelah was released back in 2006 to much aplomb and acclaim. It won many awards and critics loved the film. The problem was that it came across as a potentially typical overcoming the odds story of a young black girl with an older mentor, similar to Finding Forrester. And although this movie is a movie of overcoming the odds, it is not done in a typical manner. This film is a great film for many reasons and a mediocre one for others, either way it should have been nominated for more awards, especially at the Oscars where it was a no show for reasons unknown to me.

The story is written and directed by Doug Atchison. A white man writing and directing what on the outside appears to be an African American targeted film as being of the trouble brand, one where I would probably disagree with the majority of critics. However, on the inside the story works as a cross cultural healer. The movie is about a young awkward middle school black girl(Keke Palmer) who doesn't feel like she fits in with her classmates in the slummier and less intellectual sections of Southern California. Her principal forces her into the spelling bee knowing her innate intelligence where she goes on eventually to the state competition with the help from a mentor(Lawrence Fishburne). Although the film centers itself squarely around the young girl's shoulders, it takes on more substance as her actions and the prestige of the Bee come into more play not only for her but for all the people around her. Along the way she not only becomes a ridiculous speller but also a great human being. The brilliance of this movie relies mostly on the script and the subtexts involved as well as the acting. The bee becomes a way to bring prestige and a sense of a tightly bound community to Akeelah's school, family, friends, and neighborhood. The original question that was probably asked by Atchison before writing the script was, how would an event help to revitalize a community? The subtext of the "500 tutors" is a strong one as the community grows in faith and pride in its new prodigy child of Akeelah. Also, the film deals with a lot of the hostile attitudes an event might cause among a community of people who have lost hope in the more intellectual pursuits. Another asset of the script/film is the multicultural casting at the bee. There were a lot of white students, but the last three were all minorities and somehow Atchison does an excellent job of avoiding stereotype as much as possible. Instead of a film about struggling on your own against all the odds, it becomes a film about struggling together to accomplish more than is possible by one's self. Every character is humanized and no character can be hated by the time the movie rolls credits. In the end, Atchison creates a screenplay with great themes, messages, and a positive outlook for a brighter future in a world where the darker movie reigns supreme for being more down-to-earth so to speak. Not on ly is the intellectual and compositional interesting, but Atchison gives a core to his movie by making the movie personal to Akeelah and the relationship with her family and especially her dad and mentor. The relationships and the moments shared and the dialogue help create one of the best feel good movies in a long time. Although the few drawbacks of the script are also some of its strengths. At times the changes in characters are so sudden and the dialogue so brisk that the change doesn't feel believable, but you can still intellectually understand what is happening.

As for the acting, well, Angela Bassett who plays Akeelah's mother is amazing as always. I'm sure she has heard this before but she is one of the strongest black female actresses ever. Also Lawrence Fishburne does an excellent job in the film, although he really needs to play a character that is more sloppy and crazy right now. Too many of his roles are beginning to blur into one giant Morpheous. Interestingly, Fishburne also helped produce this small independent movie. The real breakthrough actors though ar the children. Most directors think and I might have to agree, that directing and getting good performances out of children is next to impossible. Although I have seen better performances by children before, not one single child in the entire film does a bad job with their part. Each role becomes more engrossing as the story touches on it and each actor brings it to life, especially little Keke Palmer. It's very obvious that if she keeps this up she will one day be a leading actress. She's not perfect but the sheer childness and spunk she brings to her role makes her completely recognizable as a middle schooler trying to figure out the larger world. Not only that, but damn can she spell. I have never heard of some of the words in the film and even though she might have memorized just a word, it is still a very large and impressive word. She and Abigail Breslin should have a fight for cutest young actress and see who wins. My bets on Keke since I think she is older.

As for the directing, Atchison does very well drawing the characters out of each scene and showing them in front of the camera. The real problem comes with the cinematagrapher. He really loves lens flares and on screen lighting sources to the point of drawing away my attention so much that it is annoying. Besides that and the occassional character change/klunky dialogue, this movie is well on track. It's too bad it was never nominated for an Oscar, it shouldn't have received one, but it certainly deserved one. By the end of the movie, even though it might feel slightly cliched storywise, you'll still be unable to help but fall in love and root for Akeelah. Thank you Atchison for showing us how words, simple words can in fact change the world we live in for the better and the importance these words can have when strung together in our everyday relationships. Don't be like me and sit around 6 weeks staring at this title. Watch it, be amazed, and feel better than you have in a very long time.

4.4 out of 5

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