Fifth about The Seventh

One Child Nation

One Child Nation: there is great clarity in the storytelling of Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s documentary; if the story transforms itself as the film unfurls, it’s because ramifications (and, maybe, the motivations) of the one-child policy shifted after its inception. The film smartly gives a deep personal anchor to a policy that is extremely impersonal, the apex of invasive government intervention in the lives of private citizens. It also clearly states its case (there is no doubt what side of the debate the film is on) but allows the counterpoint to be made in a dignified manner. It is very simply shot, but the editing (by co-director Wang) is tight, moving efficiently from one motif to the next.

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