Director: Zhang Yimou Duration: 108 minutes
I have been a fan of Zhang Yimou since 1999 when I watched his amazing film _Raise the Red Lantern_ for the first time in my East Asian Novel class. I have since had the pleasure of watching _The Road Home_, _Happy Times_, and _The Story of Qiu Ju_. Similar to Hou Jianqi's _Postmen in the Mountain_ and a number of the films mentioned above, _Not One Less_ depicts the natural beauty of rural China next to the abject poverty in which quite a number of farmer families live.
The film begins simply enough with the mayor tugging along the pretty, slim Wei Minzhi who has been hired by the village to teach in the place of an older teacher who must leave town in order to look after his sick mother. Minzhi does not bring much to the table, however, because she is only able to sing one song in praise of Mao and her teaching ability seems to be limited to copying information on the board and then ordering her students to copy what she has written. Also, did I mention the fact that Minzhi is thirteen years old?
Minzhi was hired because she was the only one willing to work in the little bumpkin village. Of course because of her age she is not only taken advantage of by her students, but the mayor as well who tries to swindle his way out of paying the young woman fifty yuan, around maybe twenty dollars for a month's work. However, when Minzhi is offered an extra ten yuan by the old teacher if she is able to keep all of her students during the month, Minzhi becomes determined to keep all of her students in place. However, one soon joins a school specializing in sports and another leaves for the city to support his sick mother.
Like Yang Zhang's film _Quitting_, all of the actors, all non-professional, play themselves. Filming is still highly censored in China, so Zhang Yimou had to veneer the true messages of the film. So under that happy ending and bubbly children, this is a serious social critique which needs to be seen to be appreciated.
I have been a fan of Zhang Yimou since 1999 when I watched his amazing film _Raise the Red Lantern_ for the first time in my East Asian Novel class. I have since had the pleasure of watching _The Road Home_, _Happy Times_, and _The Story of Qiu Ju_. Similar to Hou Jianqi's _Postmen in the Mountain_ and a number of the films mentioned above, _Not One Less_ depicts the natural beauty of rural China next to the abject poverty in which quite a number of farmer families live.
The film begins simply enough with the mayor tugging along the pretty, slim Wei Minzhi who has been hired by the village to teach in the place of an older teacher who must leave town in order to look after his sick mother. Minzhi does not bring much to the table, however, because she is only able to sing one song in praise of Mao and her teaching ability seems to be limited to copying information on the board and then ordering her students to copy what she has written. Also, did I mention the fact that Minzhi is thirteen years old?
Minzhi was hired because she was the only one willing to work in the little bumpkin village. Of course because of her age she is not only taken advantage of by her students, but the mayor as well who tries to swindle his way out of paying the young woman fifty yuan, around maybe twenty dollars for a month's work. However, when Minzhi is offered an extra ten yuan by the old teacher if she is able to keep all of her students during the month, Minzhi becomes determined to keep all of her students in place. However, one soon joins a school specializing in sports and another leaves for the city to support his sick mother.
Like Yang Zhang's film _Quitting_, all of the actors, all non-professional, play themselves. Filming is still highly censored in China, so Zhang Yimou had to veneer the true messages of the film. So under that happy ending and bubbly children, this is a serious social critique which needs to be seen to be appreciated.