The film Not one Less is a neo-realisim film directed by Yimou Zhang. The film is set in rural China. This part of the country is very poor and the schools are losing more and more students because the families need their children to work. There is only one teacher in the Shuiquan village, Gao, but he needs to leave because his wife is very sick. The village cannot afford a real substitute so 13 year old Wei Minzhi is substituting for the teacher.

Wei is told that the school is losing many students, but if she can manage to not lose one student, she will get a bonus. Trouble already begins when she cannot control her class. The students will not listen to her and she shows how young and naïve she really is. She ends up losing one student because a sports school recruits her. Wei tries to keep them from taking her but is told that it will be ok because she is not leaving for work.

The schools trouble maker, Zhang, ends up having to leave to the city because his mother is very ill so he has to work. Wei gathers up the others students to all pitch in money so she can go to the city and get Zhang back. She goes to the station but still does not have enough money. The students sneaks Wei onto the bus, but she still gets caught and kick out. She makes it to the city by hitchhiking and goes to the place were Zhang should be working. We find out that the girl who was suppose to bring him to work, lost him at the bus station. The go back to the station to find him but no luck.

Wei buys ink and paper to make posters about Zhang. She creates a hang full of flyers, but the falls asleep on the curb and the posters are thrown away. She is told of one last place that may help, the television station. She travels down to the station, but the receptionist will not let her in. She waits all day and night to find the station manager. He finals come out for her and is ashamed that the receptionist would make her wait like this. She tells the manager of her story and he decides to broadcast it live on TV. Zhang sees the broadcast and is taken home. The tv station not only brings Zhang and Wei back to the village, but the town is given a donation of school supplies. Wei is given her bonus and we see facts about how poverty in China is.
The theme in this movie is poverty. This movie really shows how fortunate we are just to have chalk in a school. More people in the country value work and money then a well-defined education. Education can get you more money in the long run, but the children in this movie don’t have a choice. They are forced to work to help out their families and it creates a viscous cycle of uneducated people.

Overall the movie was ok. The fact that all of the actors in the movie have never acted before was interesting. For people that have no background in acting, they did a very good job. Yimou Zhang must be very talented to direct and bring out emotion to someone that is not classically trained. The film was a bit boring in the beginning, it did not get interesting until Wei had to go to the city to find Zhang. I probably would not watch this movie again, but I think other people should check this film out to see how life in other countries can be harsh.