Peasant director Zhang Yimou returns to the country. And this time he examines the educational system of rural China through the eyes of a 13 year old substitute teacher. In many ways this film resembles The Story of Qui Ju. But ultimately the two films differ. The simple story of a woman/girl doing what is necessary to achieve her aim is shared between both films as Qui Ju leaves for the city to appeal her grievance, and the 13 year old substitute teacher Wei Minzhi leaves too, but in this case, to find a student who has ran off to the city in hopes of earning money. The difference, though, is in how the two films approach reality. Unlike The Story of Qui Ju, Not One Less casts actual villagers and not professional actors in the film. Perhaps it may be a difficult task for a director to bring ut the most natural performance from non-professional actors. However, Zhang Yimou is successful in achieving this goal. Set in a rural village in mainland China, Gao, a teacher at Shuiquan elementary school, must take a leave of absence to take care of his sick mother, so the village chief hires a substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi who is barely 13. Gao, who cannot believe the fact that 12 students out of 40 had quit school due to poverty, pleads with Wei Minzhi to help the students stay in school. Regardless, 10 year Zhang Huike runs off to the city in hopes of earning money and We Minzhi goes after him to keep her promise to Gao. The trip to the city is somewhat of a coming-of-age experience for a 13 year old girl.Fortunately, the journey turns out to be a discovery of the kindness that still remains among city people. It is also an awakening to the poor state of education of the country. For Zhang Yimou, his escape from the high tower into the rural villages of Mainland China with his camera seems to resemble a warrior old putting up a lonely fight to protect the identity of a Chinese cinema thrown in a whirlpool of local and international decline. The realism of his film represents this endeavor, but more importantly by collaborating with his amateur cast of country villagers, he has created a special ideal that sees film as ′our′ work and not that of ′the others.′ (Kim Ji-Seok)