The little Red schoolhouse

>> The teenage teacher in Zhang Yimou's Not One Less is no Anne of Green Gables

by JOANNE LATIMER

 It's hard to pin down Zhang Yimou, the maverick from China's Fifth Generation of new wave filmmakers. His work ricochets between the luxurious pageantry of Raise the Red Lantern and the rural hardships of Qiu Ju. His films fall in and out of favour with the ROC's censors, while he racks up Academy Award nominations and prizes at Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

 An international hipster on par with his mentor Chen Kaige, Zhang is now in the envious position of making any kind of film he wants. That would explain Not One Less, his latest film. It's a fictional feature designed to raise awareness about how poverty in China is robbing school-age kids of an education. Don't expect the luscious colour scheme of Shanghai Triad or his trademark splashes of red in every frame. Not One Less is a back-to-basics film set in a remote village. If the phrase "set in a remote village" makes you cringe, you're not alone. But Not One Less is an achingly beautiful film about children that flies right under the Disney radar.

 The unlikely heroine is Wei Minzhi, a 13-year-old substitute teacher. She's no Anne of Green Gables. Wei took the gig for the money, period. She couldn't care less about the kids, teaching lessons or preserving their precious stash of chalk. She won't even let the regular teacher leave town until he promises to pay her in cash. He offers to raise her salary if she can manage to keep the students from leaving school in search of paying jobs in the city. Wei sets out to guard the school door, everyday, for one month.

 Eventually, a little troublemaker named Zhang Huike takes off to work in the city. He has to pay off his mother's debts. Wei follows and her motives are divided. By now she's growing more fond of the kids, yet she never takes her eyes off the bonus money. Wei enlists a local TV station in her attempts to find Zhang and against all odds, the little schoolhouse finds itself benefiting from some media attention.

 Non-actors were cast in all the roles, including Wei. Zhang didn't show his cast the script, to keep them from trying to "act" and it was a good strategy. Wei is especially natural, playing an ordinary, selfish little girl going through the motions of minding 40 kids. As the story lifts, Zhang slowly adds more colour until Wei's socks are bright red, of course, and that remote village starts to look like Shangri-La.

 The last time Montrealers saw anything from Zhang Yimou it was during the Festival of Films on Art. He directed and filmed a spectacular performance of a Puccini opera, Turandot, held in Beijing's Forbidden City. Talk about lavish. Not One Less is the flip side of Turandot, but no less engaging and a lot less proud of itself. :

 

Not One Less opens Friday, June 9