Directed by Zhang Yimou

Zhang Yimou's "Not One Less" is a harsh but realistic depiction of poverty in rural China. Nevertheless, it is also peppered with comic scenes. It is a whimsical film about a 13-year-old protagonist who turns out to be a terrible teachers but through a twist of fate becomes a celebrity."Not One Less" is a tender-hearted story about those abandoned by the burgeoning economic forces of modern China.

This film moves slowly and is based on specific Chinese situations but its humanity speaks to each and every audience member. It is the tale of a young schoolteacher's impossible and persistent search for a lost pupil. In it, subtle camera technique and subject matter are well combined to create a highly compelling movie which exceeds the usual ``village movie'' standard. It chronicles the desperate circumstances of those who have been left out of the information age which has taken over everything in modern China. In this, it is similar to the quiet, mythic tragedy of Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief."

Shot entirely in a rural location and without the use of professional actors, "Not One Less" marks a significant shift in the career of director Zhang, the leading figure -- along with his peer and rival, Chen Kaige -- in what a decade or so ago was dubbed the Chinese New Wave. Zhang is best known in this country for "Ju Dou" (nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1990) and the "Raise the Red Lantern," and he has long been identified as the "peasant director" for his fascination with the textures and structures of rural life.

Most of Zhang's earlier films were intimate dramas focused on the hidden lives of women in traditional Chinese society, and all featured the remarkable actress Gong Li (who was then also Zhang's significant other). With their personal and professional partnership apparently over, Zhang here strips down his passion for dusty authenticity to its most unadorned essentials. (Meanwhile, Chen has gone about as far as he can go in a completely different direction: His 1999 film, "The Emperor and the Assassin," a magnificent historical epic, was the most expensive film ever made in Asia.)

There is another female character at the center of "Not One Less," but she is nothing like Gong. Wei Minzhi is a 13-year-old girl drafted to do a grown-up's job. When the old schoolteacher (Gao Enman) from the desperately poor Shuiquan Village departs to visit his dying mother, Wei must fill in for him, teaching kids just a little younger than she is. Like everyone else in the movie, Wei uses her real name but unlike the others she was cast after extensive auditions. Her acting skills are superb, it is almost physically painful to watch her angelic countenance become red as she battles her natural shyness.

In one scene, as she faces her rambunctious students -- who abuse and manipulate her with almost anarchic glee -- Wei knows she is supposed to act like an adult, but cannot quite do so. She tries to teach the children songs but forgets the words, and almost immediately destroys the precious sticks of chalk Teacher Gao has given her. At the end of her tether, she simply imprisons the kids in the ramshackle one-room schoolhouse and hopes for the best.

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