1999 Venice Int'l Film Festival Best Picture

One thing I enjoy sharing with my classes is a great movie.  Now, how to introduce them to the genre known as the foreign film?  Well, there is a wonderful film that was released in 1999, Not One Less.  This is a film every educator should watch and discuss.  Set in a very rural and poor area of China, it tells the story of Teacher Wei- barely out of the 8th grade, who becomes the substitute teacher in a very dilapidated school.  Her only concern is how much money she will make in the month she will substitute.  She is told that if she can keep all her students (imagine K-6th in one room) she will be paid in full- but for an entire class, not one less.  We meet some of the colorful students that all teachers meet- the pet, the goody two shoes, and the class clown/trouble maker.  When a box of chalk is broken into a million pieces, one of the children remarks that their teacher used even the smallest pieces and even the last of the dust to write a lesson...that's how valuable classroom materials are.

One of the students is an excellent runner and is recruited and given a scholarship to an athletic school.  The mayor of the town vows she will get the promised salary, but not one child more must leave.

Well, poverty being what it is, one of the student's parents are in debt.  The boy is sent to work in the big city.  This prompts Teacher Wei to start teaching in a very unorthodox manner.  She investigates how much money is needed for bus fare; she and the children work moving bricks.  She earns "enough" for the fare, and for a can of Coke, which these kids have never seen, let alone tasted.  Warm Coke..."tickled their tongues." 

Teacher Wei eventually makes her way to the big city in search of the lost student.  She meets a most obnoxious young girl who, for money, will help Wei look for the boy.  Needless to say, Wei spends time looking for him...getting hungry, meeting impatient people who really don't want to help.  She spends the last of her money to buy ink and hand write a "Have You Seen?" advert.  She is advised to go on TV and make her plea live.  She meets opposition before she can get on TV.  Once on TV, the anchor makes her feel comfortable and to tell her story.

The story does have a wonderful, heart-warming ending.  After watching the film, the kids noted that we are wasteful.  That there are poor schools with hardly any supplies, and yet we waste everything from paper to crayons.  Another line that hit home, "I had to beg for food...I will never forget that."

An amazing little film, and even with subtitles, a film kids can relate to.  Please take time and see this wonderful film.  It is a feel good movie and you will appreciate you classmates, your educators, your education.