Not One Less, China

Zhang Yimou’s Not One Less is an unentertaining film concerned with the economic, social, and moral status of China. In the film, the main character, Wei, comes to a remote village as a thirteen-year-old substitute teacher, working towards gaining as much money (50-60 Yuan) as possible. When she takes over for the old teacher, she is promised an extra ten Yuan if everybody still remains when he returns. Of course, two students promptly leave for different reasons, and the rest of the story centers on Wei’s quest to return Zhang Huike to the village.

This part of the plot concerning Wei’s quest, highlights the moral, social, and economic differences between urban and rural life in China. One such criticism comes in the form of the manner in which Wei is treated as a character and portrayed in the film. Wei lives on the street and in the bus station (without visible anguish for these actions) while in the city. She is often shown alone, and being treated as just another person. While in the village, though, Wei is almost always surrounded by people, and is treated warmly, however cold she treats other people. From these two different depictions, comes the commentary on moral, social, and economic differences. The city, the symbol of modernity, can almost be seen as another character in the story, perhaps the true antagonist. The village, though, represents a refuge for Wei in the context of the film. Modernity is seen in a negative light in this film, while the country life is seen more positively.

Not One Less, although not particularly entertaining, does show this global theme. This theme can be found in many conservative texts across film, literature, and other art. Due to that, this film is a global one, just not one that has particularly global appeal.