sun_jot

Riveting though it seems the documentary focuses on only one side of the story. And blaming a lot problems on one-child policy is simply not right.

1. Gender balance. Before the one child policy people tend keep giving birth unless there is a boy. Decision making affects the rate too. That's why my father had 5 sisters 1 brother and my mother has 3 sisters and 1 brother. You do the math. That contributes to the balance but it's not that kind of balance you really want. After the one-child, it is mainly abortion that reverts the ratio although China had strict laws forbidden people check gender fetus during the one child policy.

2. Abandonment. Children were abandoned in rural areas of China. Parents tend to keep boys and abandon girls. It has been that for centuries maybe. It was mainly due to the fact that the family does not have enough resources to feed everyone. The doc did not mention the children death rate before the one-child policy. My father had 6 siblings and that does not include 4 were dead from suffering illness in early age. Giving up a girl was a way to keep the family alive and yes it is very wrong. People should have just stopped giving births to that many children (male can be workers and bring fortune in old time China). The was less abandonment due to that reason after the policy. Also note that abandonment happened but it was not anyway close to a norm.

3. Forced abortion. The law strictly forbids forcing abortion during one child policy. The documentary does not mention that yet brings some voices to force an impression. If you notice, a lot of the voices are from the narratives or started with " I heard.." There has been forced abortions in the past 40 years in a singular digit reported and were deemed wrong and crimeful even in China. If you search BBC reports, you find that "there was not enough evidence to support it". I do believe there has been cases of forced abortion. The people who work at the local office used extreme means to guarantee a job and that action was very wrong.

3. Twins count as one birth it's not against the policy so in the movie the girl talked about how she got separated from her twin sister. It's entirely irrelevant to the one-child policy.

4. GDP in China now is 80 times that in 1979 when the one- child policy started 40 years ago.

5. There will be other issues like lack of medical resources and abandonment without the one child policy. One child policy is like a two sided blade. Without the policy, China would have added 300 million people in population and that's almost the entire population of the states. Poverty was imminent.

I am not trying to speak up for the one child policy. I was born in 1980s just like the director herself. While wishing that I had a brother or sister, I grew up without noticing any change to our lives caused by the policy. We were the happy generation because we witnessed the tremendous improvement in our life. Now my wife and I (without any siblings) have four parents and two kids to take care of and that's a lot of pressure. We sometimes need cousins to help on looking after our parents when we are away. That's the biggest impact if you ask us as the generation of one-child. But one child policy is already in the past, isn't it?

I am a gamer so maybe I am biased. But as a gamer one can be really picky towards a movie themed around games. To be honest I have not seen a decent movie that's about games (one I can think of is Wreck-it ralph but that's a cartoon..).

This film rocks!!! It pays tribute to a lot of familiar memories I carried since I was a child. I can't list them all and I don't want to spoil anything. Mr. Spielberg surprised me truly this time. It reminds me of the old time when I sat in a theatre and smiled like an idiot, immersed in the film and amazed by movie magic. Thank you Mr. Spielberg (I once doubted that you would ever make another good movie...). And thank the cast, they did a wonderful job. I have no complaint. I just love this film.

Again I am a guy in his late 30s who go to work every day, play some video games and enjoy family time. The memories of being a kid and the excitement of seeing new gadgets has long gone. But I found those in this film. It's nice to be young again.

Thanks to my wife who dragged me to the theater today.

I agree with a lot of people here who stated that the movie was much hyped. I understand we need to boost the new holly-black-wood. But where is the true sense of good films? The thing is that this movie makes me wonder whether I would watch the next Marvel film. It's really that tip-over point. At least I am tired of going in cinema and watch bland heroes.