The film Not One Less, directed by the award winning Zhang Yimou, is the story of a young girl in poverty-stricken rural China on which extreme responsibilities are placed. These include running the local school and teach the 28 children enrolled their daily lessons without help and with only meager supplies. Charged with the duty of making sure that not a single other student drops out, she is convinced that she must follow one of her trouble-maker students who has gone to the city looking for work to help his indebted family.
While a touching story line, my mind could not help but wander as I sat and watched Not One Less. What could have been the purpose of this film? What message was the filmmaker trying to convey? Was it to teach others of the state of rural China? To show us a story of fearlessness and steadfastness? Who was this film targeted at? Was it trying to reach the people of China, to let them know of their brothers’ troubles? Or was it directed at those who have probably never imagined such poverty? While it may have intended some of these lofty goals of education and exposing current affairs, it fell drastically short.
Our main character, Wei Minzhi, shows absolutely no expression throughout the entire length of the film, until the very end when, in a desperate plea, cries for Zhang to return. She bullies her students, forcing them to come up with a bus fare for her and solve their problems amongst themselves. Her stubbornness is not an endearing quality, as she repeatedly reveals her lack of understanding of many of today’s customs. She does not accept what others tell her and continues on whatever path she was on, whether it is weaseling money out of the construction site manager or trying to find the TV station manager. As a main character, she proves unrelatable and simply frustrates audience members with her ineptitude and bumbling persistence. While the fact that she is only 13 could excuse her from many of her decisions, the fact that the audience cannot derive any emotion from her blank stares and repeated orders serves to make this film feel irrelevant to our everyday lives and unsuccessful in whatever its original goal was.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
This is a very thorough review of "Not One Less", and a very critical one. You have valid arguments. I may disagree with some of them, but I agree with you that the film is not that easy to understand and follow. I think the film is revealing about how China has changed in the past years creating a high contrast between rich and poor.
Post a Comment