Not One Commie Less

by
KenShin

Not One Less (2000, Sony Pictures Classics, directed by Zang Yimiu), while a pleasantly involving tale of personalities, also stands as testament to the utter malevolence of spirit that blooms from a communist system of economics.

In a small province of Communist China, the economic realities of collectivism force young students to drop out of school at an increasing rate so they can go work (they’re so poor they hoard broken chalk).

When their sole teacher must take a leave of absence, the district hires 13-year-old Wei Minzhi as a substitute; no one else is available. She is promised extra cash (a pittance to us) if all of the students are still there when the real teacher returns. But when one of the students, Zang Huike, runs off, Wei must travel to the city on foot to find him so she can get the extra cash.

The main characters are engaging, the background of sparse, dry countryside versus overcrowded city is fascinating— but the sense of life is horrifying.

Wei’s ingenuity and persistence are impressive. Lost herself in the unfamiliar city, she writes hundreds of missing-persons notices by hand. When that fails, she tracks down the boy’s last known residence, but he’s no longer there. Wei then struggles to get help from the tv station.

Although Wei first undertakes this journey to ensure her bonus, bit by bit her own human decency awakens, and her concern shifts from money to the safety of the runaway.

Not so with most of those she meets. The now-frantic young teacher meets with rebuff, hostility, indifference: “It’s not my problem, so why should I care?”

Can you imagine such a callous response to a missing child in America , even in the meanest, poorest city or town?

But with communist city and country residents alike having to grub for miniscule sums of money, true meanness of spirit is ensured.

It’s not until Wei encounters the TV station manager that someone with a shred of benevolence and free will emerges. “You kept (the girl waiting outside for a day and a half?” he asks his sullen, dull-eyed receptionist. She replies, “I just follow the rules.”

So the next time you encounter some starry-eyed propagandist who bleats about the “nobility” of collectivism, make sure he sees this film.

And then offer him a one-way ticket to Communist China.

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