This movie resonated with me on so many levels, being a Cambodian immigrant and yes, having won several spelling bees. It was so exciting to see a movie depict a sliver of what my family went through . We did not live with a host family but we had a huge amount of community assistance in our small town so the premise is not far-fetched in the least. Some bits are hammy, but c'mon, it's a 1986 made for TV movie...not Oscar winning but still great in it's own way. There are actually people out there that care enough to help others. And immigrants do live a much harsher life than Americans are used to, so it's not that surprising that she worked so hard to succeed, since failure equaled death in her experience. I applaud the efforts of the families working so hard to blend together and the little girl in the movie for her achievements. I plan on showing this to my own daughter because sometimes she forgets the horror that our people went through and also how resilient and triumphant humans we all can be.

A Christian family living in Tennessee puts their way of life on the line by taking a Cambodian refugee family into their home. Through differences in culture, language and the economic strain of new mouths to feed, the family struggles and adapts and helps the Cambodian family adjust to their new country. Along the way, the main character - a young girl, succeeds brilliantly. She is motivated by the fear of failure. The consequences of failure in her previous life were death. Her drive to succeed leads to her meeting President Ronald Reagan. This is a true story, An interview with the real main character after the movie shows her as a giggly American teenager...no longer the frightened waif who was forced into slave labor in her native Cambodia.

The Girl Who Spells Freedom (1986) was a terrible made-for-t.v.-movie that was made during the eighties. It's a xenophobic rubbish that demonizes the evil "empire" of the East and shows how we're number one! An immigrant girl makes good when her white bread benefactors take her into their homes. Under their tutelage she becomes a whiz kid who over comes the horrors of her early childhood and becomes a spelling genius. The sappiness and heavy handed melodrama will make you choke!Why does Hollywood only feature Asians in productions like these. It's either this or a Viet-Nam war movie. Any one who finds this entertaining is either part of the Haagan Daas eating, blue hair dye wearing, chain cigarette smoking, weepy watching, powdered flavored coffee drinking, only sixty cents a day crowd or their the followers of the Church of the Great Elephant. More conservative tripe disguised as a feel good movie.Bad mens with guns! Work for food!! Sounds like our friend Pol Pot!Not recommended.

I received this great flick as a Christmas present last Christmas and to tell you the truth I watched it at least 50 times before the year was over. You just keep on seeing new, fantastic things and it never ceases to amaze you. I consider this to be the best movie ever made and urge people everywhere to go and see it.