Bitter Rice

Martine Thérouanne

The subject is at once very Chinese and entirely universal — France has just decided to close schools of a comparable kind, if less severe. The filmmaker manages to convey the rigidity of the institution’s methods while making these rebellious children endearing, reminding us that they are, first of all, children. We watch the tears run down the girls’ and boys’ cheeks.

Chris Berry

The film leaves us to weigh the question it opens with — whether schools like this achieve what they claim to. But the closing titles make the answer plainly negative, and in doing so expose what is wrong and deeply rooted in the system. With documentaries like this one always wonders why the institution allowed the filming at all. I am very glad they did.