Not One less

I loved the movie. I loved the freshness of the actors, the pout of teacher Wei, the spontaneous laugh and faces of the kids. I loved the use of natural light, all throughout the movie. I enjoyed the soundtrack, backbone of the movie. But most of all, I loved the way the movie pushed me to just sit down, watch calmly , and think about what I had just seen.

When the movie first started, it is the beauty of the site amazed me. It is a golden and foggy sunlight that veils the village and its dirt alleys. There are no soundtracks but the sound of farm animals: hens, goats, donkey, and dogs. Only one car and the bus comes from time to time. At night, only the pale light of a naked light bulb cast the small teacher's room. The voices break the silence of the night accompanied by some cricket. This athmosphere, created by the light and sounds, show the fact that the village is located in a remote area. It contrasts with the city, which appear later on in the movie.

The story is about a 13 years-old teacher, Teacher Wei, who has to substitute for a month while the old school teacher is away. The movie show her first hesitant steps as a teacher. How do you teach a class of lively kids, when yourself, are not much older than twenty-six students? What do you do when two kids starts a fight? Pushed by different events, Wei transforms herself from a child-teenager to become a teacher. This change is witnessed by respectful camera shot.

The way the movie is filmed makes it not judgmental. It always keep the main protagonists in the focus: the school, teacher Wei and Zhang Huike while keeping a distance with them, which allows many details to appear without being put forward. For exemple the crumbling classroom, the worn out clothes, the bedding in the classrom. And also the fact that the children are by themselves most of the time. No parents if one, are part of the picture, adults are seen only when they come in contact with the protagonists.

Zhang Yimou talk how he made this sort of movie with a different technique than his other movie. Speaking of The story of Qiu Ju (and I think he used similar technic regarding Not one Less), he said they used a lot of non-professional actors, he also says " you can't allow for too many aesthecized and flowery image. It simply wouldn't work. Instead you have to make everything look extremely unadorned and simple" as well as " you shouldn't use a single storyboard, instead striving for a kind of improvisational inspiration". In order to have this "improvisational inspiration", some cameras were hidden in the set as well as microphones, so that spontaneous reactions could be recorded.

This way of making movie reflects clearly on the story and really show a contrast with Zhang Yimou other movies. Not only looking at the aesthetic but also at the timeline; one can see that other Yimou's movies such as To live and Red Sorghum cover long period of times, many years, but here, in Not one Less, it covers only a few weeks. So that we, as spectators have really the impression that we look at the classroom during a short period of time, it is like we share their story for a bit before splitting up and everybody will go on with their own lives. But this impression give even more power to the movie in the sense that therefore, everything that happen in the movie seems to be part of the daily routine of the people we follow. That includes the poverty and the gap between countryside and city and especially the result of those two things: a child dropping out of school to go to the city in order to work to help pay his mother's debts.

Zhang, the little boy, upon arriving in the city doesn't go back to the people he is supposed to go with. The girl in charge waits for him, but not seeing him coming, go on with her life. A child is lost in the middle of the city and it seems that it is no big deals. The family back in the countryside has no way to know he is lost. The mayor doesn't count on his return, and in the city, many people live but nobody knows him. At first I was very affraid that something terrible would happen to the kid, to be abused or being taken to slavery..anything.. but no. None of that happen. The kid wander in the market bravely, not really aware of his situation, and if he is, he adapts to it, he doesn't cry. Nobody seems to care if it is not for Teacher Wei determination to find him. At whatever cost. There is a contrast between the facts that nobody cares at first, but when the media learn about the story, it becomes the challenge of the whole city to find the kid and finally many people supports the school.

Not one Less makes one smile and cry to life. I highly recommend it.