In late 1990s there were people warning about China replacing United States as the world’s most powerful country in the near future. Most of such warnings fell on deaf ears, with America and rest of the world being lulled into complacency during American unquestioned economic, political, cultural and military supremacy during Clinton’s years. Concept of China ever being able to compete with America and West on equal footing was even less convincing if the conditions of the country were close to those depicted in Not One Less, 1999 Chinese drama directed by Zhang Yimou.
The film is based on A Sun in the Sky, story by Chinese writer Shi Xiansheng. The plot begins in Shuiquan, small and remote mountain village in Hebei Province, where basic living conditions haven’t changed much for the past centuries. The only trace of modern civilisation is local school, run by single teacher Gao (played by Gao Enman). When his mother dies, he is forced to leave and school gets temporarily closed. Village elder (played by Tian Zhenda) is concerned that the authorities could close school permanently. Solution for the problem comes in the form of Wei Minzhi (played by Wei Minzhi), 13-year old girl who is the oldest pupil in Gao’s class who volunteers to replace her teacher. Although she lacks any teaching skill and experience, she is quite determined to maintain her class of 28 pupils, partly because Gao’s salary could improve finances of her own family. One of those pupils is Zhang Zuike (played by Zhang Zuike), whose family is poor even for Shuiquan standards, so he decides to quit school and go to city of Zhangjiakou, hoping to find job that could help him support his loved ones. When she hears about Wei is determined to bring him back from the big city. There she finds that Zhang got lost but she, despite lack of experience, money, food or accommodation continues her quest.
During the time of production Zhang Yimou enjoyed reputation of top Chinese director, at least among international critics. This was partly earned because of his unquestionable talent, but also due to issues he had with government censors, especially with his best known films that had dealt with country’s troubled past. Not One Less represented something of a departure for Yimou, because this film was clearly set in the present and some critics even called it a Communist regime propaganda. Not One Less might not look this way at the first glance, because, at least at the beginning, it offers rather unflattering portrayal of future superpower as a place still burdened with poverty and lack of modern development, especially at rural areas, far from shining metropolitan cities like Beijing or Shanghai. On the other hand, Yimou doesn’t point fingers at government as responsible for that state of affairs. The system is far from perfect, but at the end of the day it works. This is shown at the second half when the heroine succeeds in her quest with the help of local officials, businessmen and the emerging power of modern media like television, Because of that, Not One Less looks very much like Frank Capra’s populist fairytales that depicted America in the same way fifty years earlier.
Regardless of the author’s intentions or its relationship with government, Not One Less again shows Zhang Yimou’s great skill. Film is not only directed well, but also shows novelty of style. The film, apparently under influence of works by Iranian director Abbas Khiarostami, has taken quasi-documentarian “cinema verite” approach. The cast is entirely made of non-professional actors and all the characters have the same names as the people playing them. Despite the lack of experience, actors, guided by Yimou’s steady hand, do a very good job and make audience sympathise with their plight, resulting in emotionally satisfying happy ending. Not One Less, on the other hand, might suffer because of extensive length and Yimou’s slow exposition could test audience’s patience, especially at the beginning. Despite that, and some political controversy that led to its removal from Cannes Film Festival, it won most of the critics and, ultimately, a Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival. Not One Less is a very good piece of cinema that could be recommended even to audience that otherwise wouldn’t care much about “exotic” non-Hollywood films.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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