One Child Nation

R

Released Aug 9, 2019

1 hr. 25 min.

Documentary

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98%

101 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.

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Critics Consensus

As illuminating as it is accessible, One Child Nation probes a painful chapter in Chinese history with piercing clarity.

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Zachary L

A great documentary about China's infamous one-child policy. Though, the filmmaker sort-of trips over herself when she smuggles in the topic of American Abortion rights. Other than that awkward moment, it's a nearly perfect film that I'd recommend to anyone.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/10/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Documentarian Nanfu Wang (whose name alluding to hopes for a son in the family) is a new mom whose own memories of China's one-child policy spanning 35 years led her to adventure upon the darkening trenches of a nation's harrowing extreme population control and its spine-chilling affliction on its people and their families.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Although everyone should see One Child Nation, this is perhaps especially important material for those raised in Western democracies while the one child policy (among many government decisions over many decades) ravaged our counterparts in China. I can't recommend this film any higher.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Nanfu criticises a regime but does not offer an alternative and gaslights Chinese opinions as "brainwashed" and invalidated their actual thoughts. Obviously biased. Can she please suggest how she would have tackled overpopulation.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

For a more objective and insightful analysis of the one child policy you'd be better off just reading the Wikipedia article on this topic. Don't waste your time with this documentary.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not fit for anti-abortion believers. Great work but it fails to reach any conclusion.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

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One Child Nation: Trailer 1

2:25

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Brad Newsome

Sydney Morning Herald

Grand atrocities pile atop private heartbreak as this powerful film unfolds.

Dec 18, 2019

Full Review

David Fear

Rolling Stone

What eventually emerges is a peerless portrait of collective trauma - a devastating look at how this law not only sociologically gutted a country but made everyone complicit in the crime.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 18, 2019

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

[A] powerful documentary...

Rated: 4/5

Sep 25, 2019

Full Review

Diego Batlle

Otroscines.com

Describes the scope, excesses, abuses and effects of the "one child policy" with force and sensitivity. [Full Review in Spanish]

Rated: 4/5

Oct 27, 2021

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

A difficult to see 'must see' documentary.

Rated: 3.5/4.0

Sep 18, 2020

Full Review

Luke Gorham

In Review Online

This study in cultural misogyny - which was not born of, but rather found validation in, the one-child policy - represents the best of Wang's instincts.

Jul 30, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.

Director: Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang
Executive Producer: Ken Pelletier, Lois Vossen
Distributor: Amazon Studios
Production Co: ITVS, Pumpernickel Films, Next Generation, Motto Pictures
Rating: R (Brief Language|Some Disturbing Content/Images)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 9, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 8, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $151.7K
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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