Not One Less

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Not One Less ★★½ Yi Ge Dou Bu Neng Shao 1999 (G)

Gao is teaching in a rundown rural Chinese school when he is called away to visit his dying mother. The only substitute he can find is 13-year-old Wei Minzhi, who's scarcely older than her would-be students. Because so many children are forced to leave school because of their poverty-stricken families, Gao promises the girl extra money if she will keep all the pupils in class until he returns. When Zhang Huike must go to work in the city, Wei Minzhi is stubbornly determined to find and bring him back. Mandarin with subtitles. 106m/C VHS, DVD . CH Wei Minzhi, Zhang Huike, Gao Enman; D: Yimou Zhang; W: Shi Xiangsheng; C: Hou Yong; M: San Bao.