Please+Vote+For+Me+Review

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Please Vote For Me Review by Taylor

Do you know what a class monitor is? Have you ever had one? In China, everyone knows what a class monitor is. If you live in America, most likely won’t know what it is. A class monitor is like a leader. He or she looks over the classroom, making sure everyone is on top behavior, and getting their work done. In America there are monitors, but not like China. Very class has one and the teachers them at the end of the previous year. This time though, what the students are expecting is not what’s going to happen. Little by little, China is moving towards Democracy. Then, along comes Weijun Chen, and he decides to make a movie Democracy in China. He doesn’t want his subject too big, however he doesn’t want it too small. So, he starts with a third grade class. In this documentary, the students are picking their own class monitor, but the teacher has already chosen three candidates to choose from. One, Lou Lei, the class monitor the class monitor for two years now, and has a reputation for hitting people. Then there’s Cheng Cheng, a smart, sneaky boy who will do anything to get to the top, even if it means backstabbing his classmates. Finally, Xiafei, a soft, unprepared girl who is not very good at debating. Each of the students takes it very seriously because they know that is they work hard, they will make it slowly, step by step to the top and become full of wealth and power. All of their parents are very much involved because they can only have one child in China, due to the laws. The parents are so involved, that they are writing the speeches for their children! Maybe that’s not considered cheating, but when parents tell them what to do, and they don’t have to plan it themselves, I think that’s cheating. Also, the way they schemed sneaky plans to make the other kids feel bad, or want to quit, it’s just not something I would do. If I were a movie critic, I would give this movie a five out of five rating. It has an interesting, fresh plot, end it even has comedy, though it’s not intentional. It has truth, of a normal kid’s everyday life and something most kids do- behave better at school than at home! My favorite part of the documentary was when the debate part of the election was held. Cheng Cheng was well thought out, planned, and organized. Because of that, he managed to leave both opponents speechless. One thing I noticed was that the teacher kind of let things out of control. I think she did that on purpose to convince the kids how complicated democracy is and that it can get out of control. I think the principal told her to let things out of control because if she didn’t let things become chaotic, and she handled things, and still was the boss, that wouldn’t be democracy. It would be totalitarianism. Also, I think she did it because she wanted to convince them that democracy was bad. How did she do that? She didn’t do anything. When kids started crying, or kids started teasing, she just sat back and didn’t do much. She wanted them to think democracy was crazy, and communism was the best system that has the most control, and that it’s the best way. I think her plan worked a lot of the kids were upset in the end. So why does the teacher want to have communism? Is it because she doesn’t know the facts? Will China ever change? And by the time the kids grow up, will they fall for the same trick, only it’s not by the teacher, it’s by the government. It’s something we’ll have to wait and see. “Please Vote For Me” is a truly amazing documentary that makes you ponder.