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Not One Less [1999]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Not One Less, Zhang Yimou's (Raise the Red Lantern) tale of a plucky adolescent substitute teacher in a rural Chinese village, cast entirely with non-actors and shot on location, is an astute example of censorship politics. Taking on touchy issues with a veneer of can-do spirit and happy-ending fantasy, his film is at once rousing and eye-opening. Wei Minzhi is a stubborn young woman who takes a substitute-teaching job in a tiny provincial town because they can't afford anyone else. When one troublemaking boy heads off to the city to help support his starving family, it's not a sense of responsibility that drives her rescue mission, but money: She won't receive her bonus if any students are missing. Her efforts to raise money for the city trip pulls the class together in a sense of purpose, and even drives the lessons. But when she finally reaches the city she's shocked to discover an urban jungle of lost and runaway kids. Yimou shoots with an easy naturalism that suggests a well-intentioned docudrama in spots, due to narrative contrivances and a few self-conscious performances, but his compromises ultimately make his shocking look at China's rural poverty, adolescent workers, urban juvenile homelessness and woefully under-funded educational system more potent. In the heat of the film's uplifting climax, the once-mischievous boy pulls the film back down to earth with his reflection on his big-city adventure: "I had to beg for food. I'll never forget that." --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

Editorial
Special Features

1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 5
Mandarin
Region 2
Dolby Digital Surround Mandarin
Dolby Digital Surround
Isolated Score
Trailer
Arabic\Czech\Danish\Dutch\Finnish\French\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Italian\Norweigan\Polish\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish\Turkish

Editorial
Synopsis

NOT ONE LESS is an original, extremely affecting story of a small Chinese village and the children that inhabit it. When an elementary school teacher leaves her assignment to care for her ill mother, the community leader allows a 13-year-old girl, Wei Minzhi, to take her place. After the class clown is forced to leave the village in order to find work, Wei Minzhi organizes a fundraiser that will give her enough money to track him down and return him to his rightful place in the classroom. Zhang's (RAISE THE RED LANTERN) film proves that determination and will can conquer any odds.

Unusual and great film by Zhang Yimou
Review date: 2008-08-10 Rating: 10 out of 10

Somewhat didactic and sentimental, this film from Zhang Yimou is nevertheless irresistible. An unusual foray from Zhang into realistic films, Not One Less tells the tale of a young teenager in a Chinese village who is named as substitute teacher in the local school when the head teacher has to visit his ailing mother. Her skills as a teacher are barely adequate, and her students are just a few years younger than she is, yet she makes up her obvious shortcomings as a teacher with an utmost zeal in accomplishing her mission. Her superior has told her that not one of her students must drop out of school, so when one of the more trouble making boys heads to the big city in order to support his starving family, she has to go there to get him back. The movie is refreshingly sincere in stating that she does not search the boy out of a sense of social concern, but because of money, since she won't receive any bonus if any of her students are missing. The best part of the movie shows the naive teacher trying to find her lost student in the urban jungle of the city. Shot with a wonderful amateur cast, this look at rural China is beguiling.

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Reviews


an unusual and touching film
Review date: 2008-05-19 Rating: 8 out of 10

This is a very touching film about a little substitute teacher's search for a lost pupil, a rather naughty boy who has caused her some difficulty. She leaves the primitive rural school in which she gets by as an untrained teacher and walks to the city (getting a lift only for part of the way) in what seems a hopeless quest. In the end, she succeeds, helped by some kindly important people who eventually become aware of her plight.

I knew nothing about the film and have watched it once. It is visually interesting and sometimes beautiful. The simple primitivity of her agricultural community is well portrayed and the film is largely very convincing. Many of the 'actors' are not actors at all - it looks as if this is a re-enactment of a true story, possibly a bit embellished, possibly not. But it is a a fresh and enjoyable film, and there is one very touching moment when the teacher, interviewed quite sympathetically by a very beautiful TV presenter and rendered silent and inarticulate by the experience, finally makes a tearful plea to the boy to come back, make himself known, be found. I enjoyed this film very much. It's unusual and involving, and you feel it has some integrity.

Education, education, education...
Review date: 2007-11-21 Rating: 8 out of 10

This is not a film about a plucky heroine or noble poverty. I imagine any teacher would recognize Zhang Huike in every pupil they ever met that drove them to distraction with their naughtiness. When Huike leaves her class, Teacher Wei follows her wayward pupil not out of any sudden welling of undiscovered affection but because she believes she won't get paid if her class numbers go down. (How encouraging to learn that even in China they have targets...?) Huike is no adorable imp -- merely an ordinary little boy. Only her sheer doggedness turns her search into an epic journey and the indifference she encounters in the city gives her persistence a bittersweet pathos. Huike loses his defiant and mischievous spirit when he finds himself living on the street. When Wei appeals to Huike on camera you suspect the 13-year-old "teacher" has reached the end of her tether, and when Huike sees Wei on TV you realize he is -- like other little boys you'd call naughty -- not altogether unthinking or unfeeling and is far away from home. The most telling moment is when he is asked in the car travelling back to the village what he will remember most about the city; until that point, he has waxed extravagant about his experience, his future plans, and what he will get his teacher when he earns a lot of money, but he answers this question with "I remember I had to beg for food. I'll never forget that."

The film points instead to problems which Western and other societies have tried to eradicate but which crop up, it seems, all over again and again: child poverty, child labour, finding teachers, the lack of funding for education, rural underdevelopment... the list goes on.

Everything is stripped down to basics -- the acting (as noted in previous reviews, none of the cast are actors), the characters, the settings, the motives, the solutions -- and all to strong effect. The mayor is the village version of a two-bit politician. The village is dusty and crumbling, not picturesque. The city is dirty and grey with concrete. The hitherto unrecognized track star pupil runs because she'd rather sweat than wet the bed. Wei's persistence begins to annoy the receptionist at the TV station, and you can see why. The restaurant manager feeds Huike, but only to keep him away from the customers. Seeing the cultural differences opens your eyes as much as it can make your jaw drop (witness the children -- whom I don't reckon to be older than 10, if that -- attempting long division and algebra), but realizing the similarities, well: there's where it opens your mind.

Keeping them in school
Review date: 2006-07-19 Rating: 8 out of 10

Yimou (Hero, Flying Daggers, Red Lantern) comes at this very differently from his other more famous films, and this is more comparable to The Road Home or other more villagey, serene films like Balzac, Green Papaya, The Way Home etc. It's not superficial; swaying between moving, upsetting, relatively honest and natural.
For the viewer it's interesting to see how other countries/communities operate (technology free environment) and see their social/educational issues within film (although obviously a representation). The sub teacher comes from a neighbouring farming village to a one teacher dilapidated, resource free school with students disappearing as family financial needs dictate and when not removed by the mayor for athletic ability transfer. The existing teacher has been unpaid 6 months, the boy reads a story of being careful with chalk. Discipline is physical, the teachers have parental and community respect & power. We see Wei's motives and practical solutions develop alongside the mathematical ability and interest of her mixed age, only slightly younger classmates. We see child workers in the city and Wei's relentless attempts to bring the boy back. It brings to light various issues of poverty in rural China which isn't an everyday subject, perhaps why it gained acclaim at Venice. Issues of the day aren't dependent on sats, paperwork and theory - it's practical, disciplined, valued effort. Wei, the mayor, the children & China through the TV broadcast seem to do some learning and development and it did actually make me cry. No bright colours and swords or Ziyi but perhaps a better effort due to that, a real story.

Very enjoyable
Review date: 2006-07-14 Rating: 8 out of 10

You won't be making a mistake by watching this. It's a very pleasant and amusing film. I would highly recommend it.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Zhenda Tian
Zhimei Sun
Minzhi Wei
Huike Zhang
Enman Gao

Creators:
Minzhi Wei (Primary Contributor)
Huike Zhang (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
EAN: 5035822038530
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2001-09-17
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 102 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2000-08-10
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Hindi (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: Mandarin Chinese (Original Language)

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