Not One Less - Documentation

While Not One Less isn’t strictly a documentary, it does record the natural reactions, emotions, and nuances of the child actors as they played fictionalized versions of themselves. By choosing to use amateur and first-time actors to play the children, Yimou Zhang is able to capture authentic performances and, in doing so, document childish behavior and perspective of the world.

Huike Zhang especially provides many true-to-life instances of boyish rough housing and talking back to adults. As I was watching him, I was reminded several times of similar behavior seen in To Be and To Have (2002)—the naughty grins especially. There is something about children that is unreproducible. It’s just like when you ask an adult to draw a child drawing or write like a child. No matter how good at imitating children they are, it never feels authentic. Because of Zhang’s use of hidden cameras and microphones, he was able to capture the authentic, childish behaviors and “non-acting” of his actors which provided the most true-to-life experience for his audience.

Not One Less engages in a child’s reality in conflict with the real world. At a certain level, it deals with Minzhi Wei and Huike’s disenchantment with the world as they face the harsh hunger and realities of being alone in the city. They must also learn that life means hard work and sacrifice as both of them are driven from their homes in order to earn a living, denying themselves (willfully or not) of their childhoods. But unlike some of the clips we watched in class, this narrative fights for their right to be children as they are both able to return to school and turn away from the harsh realities of adulthood in the end.

As for a documentarian recording of childhood, it shares many similarities to Zhang’s approach to fiction. The Lumiere actualities celebrate the small, seemingly mundane lives of these children, when they themselves (as small as they are) don’t find their world small or mundane. Each lunch is an adventure, each stolen possession a tragedy. Though it is our job as mentors and family members to broaden their worlds and eventually introduce them fully into the realities of the world, we must appreciate and nourish their own childish perspective of reality and celebrate and mourn with them.

I’ve had the pleasure of spending at least one night a week with my 3 month old nephew and seeing him slowly begin to recognize and explore the world around him. He learns through a gradual broadening of hi s circular understanding, as the basics (eat, poop, and sleep) build outwards into tasting, noise, dreams, facial recognition, and other sensory discoveries. Just as we saw in Secret of Roan Inish, he learns circularly, not linearly.  

This is a complete indulgence (per the example of our esteemed professor), but here is a documentation of my nephew discovering the wonder that is a tongue and hands.