One Child Nation (2019)
92%RT Audience Score: 85%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
10 wins & 49 nominations total
As illuminating as it is accessible, One Child Nation probes a painful chapter in Chinese history with piercing clarity.
One Child Nation is a documentary that will leave you feeling like you just went through an emotional rollercoaster. It’s like watching a horror movie, but instead of a fictional monster, it’s the real-life atrocities committed by the Chinese government. The film does an excellent job of showing the devastating effects of the one-child policy on families and society as a whole. It’s a must-see for anyone interested in human rights and the consequences of government control. Just make sure you have some tissues nearby because you’ll need them.
Production Company(ies)
Warner Bros.,
Distributor
Amazon Studios
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Jiangxi Province, China
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for some disturbing content/images, and brief language
Year of Release
2019
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 116 : 9
-
Runtime:1h 25m
-
Language(s):English, Mandarin
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 9, 2019 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 8, 2019
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, China, one-child policy, history, social experiment, filmmaker, Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christoph Jörg, R rating, Dolby Digital, Flat aspect ratio, Amazon Studios, box office, gross USA, $151.7K, critic reviews, Brad Newsome, David Fear, Peter Bradshaw, Steven D Greydanus, Adam Graham, Kimberley Jones, Diego Batlle, Richard Propes, Luke Gorham, Steven Allison, David Lamble, audience score, genre, English language, brief language, disturbing content, images, producer, director, reviewed by, produced by, directed by, starring
Worldwide gross: $271,841
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $314,100
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,844
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 34,253
US/Canada gross: $270,128
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $312,121
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,451
US/Canada opening weekend: $20,523
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $23,713
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,453
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Jialing Zhang – Director
Christopher Clements – Producer
Julie Goldman – Producer
Carolyn Hepburn – Producer
Christoph Jörg – Producer
Director(s)
Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christoph Jörg
Film Festivals
Sundance
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
10 wins & 49 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (101) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (99) | Rotten (2)
Grand atrocities pile atop private heartbreak as this powerful film unfolds.
December 18, 2019
Brad Newsome
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
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.
December 18, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
David Fear
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
[A] powerful documentary…
September 25, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
The filmmakers’ politics aside, ‘One Child Nation’ is overwhelmingly, and on multiple levels, a pro-life film.
August 30, 2019 | Rating: A
Steven D. Greydanus
National Catholic Register
TOP CRITIC
[A] houghtful and sobering dissection of the human toll of government rule.
August 28, 2019 | Rating: A-
Adam Graham
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
The one-child era is still recent enough to exist in living memory, but that won’t always be the case; given authoritarian governments’ habit of rewriting history to their liking, One Child Nation feels like an essential document.
August 22, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/5
Kimberley Jones
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Describes the scope, excesses, abuses and effects of the “one child policy” with force and sensitivity. [Full Review in Spanish]
October 27, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Diego Batlle
Otroscines.com
A difficult to see ‘must see’ documentary.
September 18, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
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.
July 30, 2020
Luke Gorham
In Review Online
One Child Nation is a stark, affecting piece that’ll leave you boiling-over with fury and amazed at the power of persuasion.
June 8, 2020
Steven Allison
The Playlist
A sobering, heartbreaking view of how the Chinese Communist Party has attempted to deal with the country’s exploding population.
May 27, 2020
David Lamble
Bay Area Reporter
At a time when we’re all fighting in the foothills of similar mountains… One Child Nation is a difficult, yet essential watch.
March 17, 2020
Dan Scully
Cinema76…
Plot
First-time mother and filmmaker Nanfu Wang uncovers the untold history of China’s One-Child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
Nanfu-Wang.jpg
