Comment 14 for bug 185928

The patch does the opposite of what the Totem FAQ says.

I admit, the Totem FAQ may not seem the most authoritative source. So here's what the GNOME HIG [1] says about using the space key as a shortcut:

"The following shortcut keys are reserved for keyboard navigation use by the various widgets used in GNOME, and should not normally be over-ridden by your application.

"Space Toggle selected state of focused check box, radio button, or toggle button"

[1] http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/input-keyboard.html.en#widget-navigation