5 March 5 2003
Director: Yimou Zhang
China
1999
106 min
A teacher in a remote mountain village in China must leave for a month. The only substitute the Mayor can find is a 13 year-old girl, Wei Minzhi. The teacher promises her an extra ten yuan if there is not one less student in the class when he returns. Within days the class troublemaker is forced to leave to the city to find work. Minzhi, possessed of a stubborn streak, determines to bring him back. This is a rural fable; beautifully shot by the director of Raise the Red Lantern (1992). A young girl’s naive and perseverant attempt to navigate a world far removed from our own.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.