Instant Favorite.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Film Review: Please Vote for Me The film "Please Vote for Me," directed by Chen Weijun, takes place in Wuhan, China's Evergreen Primary School, 3rd grade class. An experiment about democracy has been conducted. The children of the third grade class are to vote for their Class Monitor. The purpose of this experiment is to see the effects of democracy in China and how it would be received if it were introduced. Within the past 10 years, the world has depended on China's economy. This film delves into the values and ideals of modern China and demonstrates its gradual political change.Throughout the film, the main focus has been on the candidates. Each candidate gained different experiences on their journey through the election. Parental influence was something that had a great effect on the outcome of the election. Cheng Cheng and Luo Lei both had plenty of help from their parents when it came to speeches and gaining favor from their classmates. Xiaofei, however, had no direct influence from her mother. The parents seemed to do everything they could to help their child succeed. Whether there is a great parental influence or not, the candidates easily found their own clever tactics. With the help of their assistants, the candidates found ways to manipulate their classmates, as well as their competitors. This both helped them and hurt them. In the end, Luo Lei came out with a massive win.The approach to the making of this film is mostly 'fly on the wall.' After experiment is initiated, the rest is left untouched. This is an important aspect of the film because, without direct interference, it allows the children in the class and other subjects of the film to live the experiment as accurately as it would be without the presence of the camera. The editing was very simple. It showed important points toward the progression of the election. It was very easy to follow and was very smoothly put together. The cinematography was very straightforward. Without the interference of additional music, the viewer is able to form his own thoughts and opinions toward the situation, instead of being given a feeling or an emotion that is evoked by the intrusion of the director. The only interviews in the film were scarce and brief as a few children were asked "who will you vote for?" Other than that, the director stepped back and simply watched as his film took place.Overall, this film completes its objective. It arouses thoughts and questions about democracy in China. It shows Chinese values and culture in modern China. The growth and political change in China, though gradual, is an active and moving force. All of the children of Evergreen Primary School's third grade class learned new life lessons through this experiment. The candidates were taught to be strong and persistent and to never give up while trying to accomplish their goals. The class and everyone involved received democracy very willingly and valued their right to vote for their Class Monitor.

The doc was filmed in my hometown, and the first thing I noticed is how crappy those kids, teachers and their parents' mandarin sounds:). We never really speak mandarin that often when I was in school, coz it is so uncool. Things definitely changed since I was there, so should I say somethings changed. Chinese people never enjoyed the true democracy since 1949, and the school system we are having just reflects the real society. This class monitor thing is just another part in the dictatorship hierarchy, teachers picked the kids they like to monitor other classmates, and cool kids like me never really care who will be the guy to monitor us coz we will fight the stupid system anyway. Why bother to introduce a democratic system to elect a little dictator anyway. Kids are so keen to get the job coz the power it represents. Parents are so keen to help their kids to win coz they know it will give them bonus at the time they graduate. For teachers, I have no idea, might be just extra fun at work... so anyway. China is never short of voting system, the problem is the government never wants people to understand the true democracy. I have the feeling that the director probably shares a similar feeling to me, which is sort of disappointment about these younger generation, which made me sad. By the way, I was elected as class monitor once in a quite similar way, but teacher refused to accept the result simply because he didn't like me and chose another kid. He said to us about his decision, "I trust you guys and give you the democratic rights, but look at the guy you chose, you are abusing your rights..." :)

Many people don't realize there are village and town level elections in China. I'm fairly certain at least over 90% if not all of the villages and towns have leaders democratically elected. (Note: the government usually don't pick the candidates, but voting fraud happen from time to time from what I heard. Yes, this is what happens when there's a democracy without proper voter education and regulations, most importantly, without a real voting culture. people just buy votes.) Therefore I have no reason to question the authenticity of this documentary. Common, it's an election between three third graders.If you think Chinese government care enough to stage this documentary you are most definitely paranoid.This documentary itself actually made cases for both pro-democracy and anti-democracy arguments. On one hand, it's scary to have uneducated voters and unregulated voting process in a democracy; on another hand, without real democracy, the imitation can only be so crude and cruel.

As a 25 year old westerner I feel really bad for the sibling-less kids of China post 1979; such an intense, strict and oh so serious upbringing! But it was good to see these kids still know how to have a bit of fun some of the time - alternating between deliberately making people cry - to dancing about like a crazy loon.After finishing watching this just now, my first thought was "who produced this?" was it the Chinese government trying to show democracy as a bad/flawed idea, or pro-westerners trying to say "yeah man, you DO need democracy now!".... in the end it doesn't really matter as the film can equally discount or credit either argument.It is a surprisingly honest and intimate doco; quite cleanly played out (not editorialized). Just like in most elections, the good guy you hope and would really love to see win; gets done over by the political machinations of the more cut=throat dodgier candidate - as is sadly too often the case in real world politics. Make a bet with whoever you watch this with in the first 20 minutes as to who you think will win, you might be surprised!This had me from the first minute until the last credits rolled, good film, nuff said.