Change Your Image
yalamer06
Reviews
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
This movie is SOO far from reality
Sure this movie was entertaining ... and I was even rooting for the character. But realistic: NO! If you REALLY want to see the true candidates for the Bee, check out the documentary "SpellBound" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0334405/ In THAT film, the viewer sees realism of how race (and especially class) comes into play when it relates to educational achievement.
The movie focuses on 5-8 kids throughout the country, and how they perform at the national bee. There are a couple of underdogs, a DC inner-city girl (perhaps the inspiration for Akeelah) and a poor immigrant daughter from El Paso who everyone is rooting for, but of-course get crushed in the early rounds.
The last rounds are dominated by children of families with privilege (one of the girls has a pony) and of Asian immigrants, which is not a surprise.
If this movie inspires inner city children to try harder in school (which I hope is the case) then more power to it.
Unfortunately, I don't think this is the case, and this film just simply propagates the American myth that anyone can make it in this country, and class does not come into play.
I welcome your criticism.