One Child Nation (2019)
It is never expressly stated but I have reason
to think that the documentary One Child Nation could be a subtext for
America’s divided attitudes about abortion.
Yes, of course, this is an in-depth look into China’s one-child policy
that lasted from 1979 to 2015, about how it was sold and how it was implemented
– often by force. But something under
the subject matter got me thinking, first as an American and more importantly as
a citizen of the state of Alabama wherein the state just put a painfully
mean-spirited logic-free bill into action that not only banned all abortions in
the state but imposed century-long penalties for doctors who participate in
them. My question: are we so far apart
in our hypocrisy?
To the actual content of One Child Nation, my hometown concerns seem
somewhat superfluous, but to the deeper issue, it is something to consider. By allowing such political sanctions as
Alabama’s Human Life Protection Act, are we setting ourselves up for a similar set
of bizarre circumstances that China once held aloft in the name of national
survival?
Until the early 1990s, the One-Child Policy was largely unknown in the United
States, but in China it was imposed by a massive propaganda campaign and also
by force. We learn throughout the films
that parents who had more than one child were ostracized and women who refused the
sterilization process were pushed into it by force.
The film was produced, directed and narrated by Nanfu Wang, a native of China who
later moved to the United States but has come back to her native country to
interview activists, relatives, abortionists, journalists and the children born
during the time. She begins with some
bizarre propaganda efforts sanctioned by Mao’s government that helped to turn
the one-child policy into a massive PR effort, turning it not just into a PSA
stunt but also into an effort of national responsibility. Ads reminded citizens that the policy was not
only the law but was, one talking head recalls, helping to stave off a famine
that could lead to cannibalism. That stuff
we know, but what makes the movie so effective is Wang’s probe of the actual
process of administering the policy under the law . . . and this is where
things get ugly.
Speaking with individuals who were part of the medical staff, Wang uncovers a stomach-turning
series of eye-witnesses whose job is was to administer the sterilization
process, and they were ruthless. One woman
speaks of performing thousands of late-term abortions, many from women whom
where brought in kicking and screaming.
Wang doesn’t shy away from the images, the testimonies, the details.
Since Wang and her crew got these interviews in secret, most of the interviewees
are ordinary people who got caught up in the program, some of whom are
horrified by what happened and other who understood why it was being imposed.
And THAT is what makes the film so challenging.
Most documentaries of this type, even good ones are simply preaching to
the choir. But this one is
different. In offering up witnesses who
were there, a thought emerges that China’s one-child policy wasn’t simply a
case of national survival. The
government didn’t put this sanction into action for the purpose of putting a
yolk on the people but rather did so to prevent an oncoming plague of overcrowding
and famine. No one would blame you if
you went into this movie with the thought that the one-child policy is insane
and thoughtless but ask yourself what alternatives China had.
Do I agree with this? Certainly
not. it is horrific to think of
thousands of women having their wombs invaded by a government sanctioned sterilization
program. But I am forced to concede that
the larger reason wasn’t in the name of totalitarian rule. There are issues to consider here that open
up debate over how this could have been handled better.
About the Author: Jerry Roberts
Jerry Roberts is a film critic and operator of two websites, Armchair Cinema and Armchair Oscars. 
