One Child Nation. 2019. USA. Directed by Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang. In Mandarin, English subtitles. 88 min.
For three and a half decades, China’s one-child policy was the rule of the land, enforced through propaganda, severe penalties, forced sterilization, and abortion. An untold number of women were forced against their will to undergo procedures. Countless babies, mostly girls, were abandoned or trafficked—some died and others were adopted by families overseas. Directors Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang investigate this dark chapter in the nation’s history, interviewing individuals with varying degrees of complicity and uncovering chilling stories. What emerges is an ingeniously crafted, complex portrait of a traumatized nation. Courtesy Amazon Studios.