‘One Child Nation’ is horrific, necessary

Posted on January 3, 2020

By MARK VIOLA

China’s one-child policy, under which families were only allowed to have one child (with some exceptions), is something that I’ve always known existed, but have never really thought much about, aside from it being yet another example of the oppressive regime in that country. It began two years before I was born and only relaxed to a two-child policy in 2015.

The personal cost and the unimaginable tragedies that resulted from that policy come to frightening reality in the new documentary, “One Child Nation.” The film, which has made the short list for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, received a very limited release earlier this year and is now available online for Amazon Prime subscribers.

The film is co-directed by Chinese-American Nanfu Wang (“I Am Another You”), who, after the birth of her first child, travels back to China, where she grew up under the one-child policy. There, she talks with her family, local officials and others, realizing the dark side of a policy she just accepted as part of life growing up.

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