george.schmidt Review of Not One Less

Not One Less (1999)

Teach your children well

[27 April 2004]

NOT ONE LESS (2000) *** World renowned Chinese filmmaker

Zhang Yimou's strong story telling skills come through evocatively

with an almost documentary like account of a teenage substitute

teacher (Wei Minzhi as herself) whose green tactics are put to the

tests of many endurances – spiritually, emotionally, physically –

while working as an assigned primary school teacher in a small

impoverished modern-day village and embarks on a soul-searching odyssey when one of her rebellious and obnoxious young charges is forced to move away from his family

to forced labor to work off his familial debts. What makes the film

unique is the way its humanity overspills in simplified yet

compelling terms of matter-of-factness without pandering or

plucking the audiences' emotions for cheap sentiment, but rather

of just how well off many nations truly are.