Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

gentendo I'd like to examine the character arc of the young girl who comes to temporarily substitute at the poverty-stricken school: Teacher Wei. When she first arrives, she seems really disinterested and apathetic towards the whole situation. The only thing on her mind is the financial rewards that she is promised by the mayor if, in fact, she's successful in maintaining all of the children at the school without losing any. When she begins teaching, it's simply to fulfill an obligation: very routine-like.She allows the children to fight with each other without intervention, has them write a ton of complicated characters on the board that they don't understand, and expects them to copy it verbatim without cry or murmur. It's obvious, at first, that she has no desire to help these struggling children. This suggests something poignant about her back story—that she, too, comes from the grounds of destitution. When given the chance to earn some money, she jumped immediately at the opportunity not knowing the full implications of how difficult it would be to Sheppard the wandering flock.When the young boy, Zhang Huike, goes with some travelers into the city to make money for his family, Wei is determined to follow after him and reclaim him. This presents an interesting dichotomy in her desires: does she want to reclaim him strictly for financial rewards, or, is there a part of her that really cares for his well-being and wants him back in the fold with the other children? I think it's a little bit of both as the story unfolds (but more so out of love). Wei travels through tremendous moments of change to reclaim him—each moment testing her resilience to stay in the game. She has an objective (e.g. Zhang Huike), but she is thwarted.She needs money to travel by bus into the city, but has none. She works for money by moving bricks, but is paid none because she and the children accidentally break them in the process. She sneaks onto a bus, but is thrown off. She hand writes a multiplicity of rescue flyers to find Huike, but none are seen by him. All of these moments show her steady dedication not to give up on the lost lamb. She is determined to find him. I believe this is where the theme of the story is revealed: the Sheppard of a flock will leave the 99 in order to rescue the wayward one: no matter the extremes.This theme becomes clearer as you see Wei conquer one battle after the next, stopping at nothing to find Huike (especially when she goes on live television). There, on television, with tears in her eyes and a plea in her voice, she asks Huike where he has gone—why did he leave? In that moment, I became convinced that her care for him was genuine—not something strictly lucrative. After all, she wasn't crying crocodile tears. It's a real touching moment when Huike finally sees the broadcast, as he, too, starts to become emotional. He begins to realize all of the things Wei had to go through in order for him to realize her love for him. He reciprocates and goes home.I think director Zhang Yimou was trying to portray the power of love one can have for a wayward child. With obvious Christ-like undertones, though perhaps not intentional, Not One Less is the story about what a person is willing to do when they feel separated from those who they love. It works really well in this particular story because I had ambivalent feelings of whether Wei's intentions were initially sincere, but as the story progressed I realized that she was being charitable, not selfish.I believe Yimou intentionally shot the film, in some instances, like a hidden camera documentary because he wanted the aesthetics of the film to compliment the meaning of the theme. Since the Sheppard theme is one possible theme to the story, it makes sense to say that the camera-work acts as a hidden device, away from the eyes of Wei. Wei is looking for the lost child, but he remains hidden from her eyes. So, too, there is also an omniscient camera looking at Wei as she looks for Huike—a device that suggests perhaps the God of heaven watching over all of his wandering sheep (some respectfully more than others). One particular moment that heavily suggests the hidden camera is when Wei is asking the citizens in the city if they've seen or know the railroad instructor. The scene is shot montage as it shows her exhaust herself throughout the day. She looks helpless; always being observed from afar. The pity she feels in trying to find Huike is the same pity that the camera seems to have on her—always watching; simply observing.

pvernezze I am generally not a big fan of movies made only to send a message, tending to agree with the Hollywood director who famously said, If you want to send a message, go to Western Union. And make no doubt about it: this is a message movie. And in case you might miss the message, the director flashes it across the screen at the end. That said, this is a beautiful and heart warming story about an aspect of Chinese culture one generally does not hear much about in the West: the situation at rural schools. As Zhang Yimou lets us know at the end, more than one million students drop out of schools in rural China because of poverty. From what I understand, this is a pretty accurate picture of the situation in many places in the Chinese countryside. Forget about having a computer in the classroom; this place has to worry about having enough chalk. To add to the authenticity, Zhang Yimou used real people from the Chinese countryside to play the roles (although to clear up one misperception, this is not a true story). It is certainly a different China than the economic superpower we hear about in the news. But for anyone wishing to get a more complete picture of China, this film provides a vivid depiction of the plight of rural schools in a very moving if somewhat contrived story and is highly recommended.

ccthemovieman-1 There isn't much to this story, I but I still liked it. The lead character, played by Wei Minzhi, is supposed to be playing a 13-year-old girl and was really interesting to watch, as were the young students and some of the other people in this film.Oddly, all these actors were amateurs, real-life students and people of varied professions. It's nicely filmed, too, despite the bleak background many times. I find the dialog of many Chinese films to be very pleasing. Yes, there is a lot of receptiveness, at least in the translations, but it's tolerable. There is very little profanity and plenty of good old-fashioned values and feelings of people, simply told. You don't find much of this is in modern-day movies of the Western World. The colors in here - the reds, yellows and oranges - are always a treat for the eyes and the Asian kids' faces are intriguing.This film is very different from anything Western audiences are used to, but I recommend it for those who realize that fact and are okay with it.

Pro Jury *** May contain spoilers. *** However implausible the story, the acting in NOT ONE LESS is fresh and natural. I give all of the cast a great amount of credit because all of them -- the very young, and the very old -- go through their scenes without being distracted by, or playing to, the camera. The sincere earnest acting makes the film worth the watch.That being said, the screenplay of this film makes no sense. What motivated this substitute teacher to be so extraordinarily determined? It made no sense for her to be motivated by money because no 13 year-old could be so repeatedly fooled by the same adults. Also, as things went on it was clear that more money could be gained from working the kids in the brickyard than what might ever come from what both old men combined had promised.Two students leave her class. It made no sense for her to be so extraordinarily determined to return the big brat and not try to return the nice helpful girl student. Her 30 days of teaching would have been so much better without the trouble-making brat.And leaving the classroom alone for days -- what would make her think that she would be allowed to continue as a teacher when she returned? The substitute's actions were without thought and rational planning. At almost every turn, the viewer watching this film is left thinking that no one could be so dumb yet confident. In real life, people are cautious in matters where they are ignorant.Most of the detailed reviews here are far more rational and logical than the plot of this film.