Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Eddie Steeples, Curtis Armstrong

Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee