A powerful documentary about the US book ban

This is a particularly hot topic given the new presidential administration's push for rights and a constitutional judge's executive order banning books from school libraries. But it continues. This debuted at Sundance librarianA well-assembled documentary made famous by Peabody-winning director Kim A. Snyder, this is a huge hit. (Since Snyder and co-director Janique L. digital deathwhich involves a school shooting survivor. )

Seamlessly assemble a variety of materials, including vintage film footage mixed with archival and original footage, librarian A group of educators, nearly all women, were observed fighting on the cultural front. Their opponents are legions of people: conservative school boards, members of right-wing organizations recently plagued by scandals, Republican politicians hungry for freedom and publicity, and more.

Snyder appears to have taken action after Texas House Representative Matt Krause released his infamous list of 850 books that libraries should remove because They are said to contain “obscene”, “pornographic” and “racially related” content. Books with a positive approach to LGBTQIA+ themes are particularly vulnerable, with one student speaking stating that around 60% of the 850 books would fall into this category. Fortunately, Krause's lack of research didn't catch them all, as librarian Suzette Baker happily demonstrated when she found a copy of the picture book A day in the life of Marlon BundoIt's the story of two male rabbits' happy marriage, nestled firmly on a shelf in the children's section, “where we keep our pornography,” Baker jokes.

As snippets of news coverage bring up incidents of shifting censorship in most “red” states – Snyder students, teachers and parents try to defend free speech, even as we're also caught up in the tough situation in New Jersey. Unfortunately Yes, they're often linked to well-organized campaigns like Mom's Freedom, and their dark currency, and they're on board with gangsters' galleries of speakers and not just spouting stuff about books, but Charges were brought against the librarians themselves.

Some of the latter recounted how they were victimized by such movements, ending up not only losing their jobs for daring to raise issues, but being targeted and targeted by the fanatics. In Clay County, Florida, for example, librarian Julie Miller, who was not only the daughter of a Baptist president but also the wife of a man, recounted how Bruce, a zealot for freedom, Bruce Friedman deceived her personally, especially after a meeting in which she tried to gently persuade him that he was in the wrong way. Friedman once wrote that he would “run into” an opponent “like a corpse,” which was both a creepy corpse (he crossed over a dead body, Julie Wonders), and in There's some syntax confusion. Friedman perhaps compared himself to a corpse making life happen. This is a puzzle.

While the big-picture issues at stake here are never out of reach, Snyder's mini-portraits of people caught up in this culture war are rife with drama, especially within families. In Granbury, Texas, Mother of Nine Monica Brown crusaded against LGBTQIA+ material in particular and attempted to bring criminal charges against the librarian. A Tough One introduces us to her eldest son, Weston Brown, who now lives in San Diego with his boyfriend and was abandoned by Monica and her family, even being banned from returning home to get thanksgiving. He bravely travels to Granbury to speak at a school board meeting, supported by a spirited local friend, hairdresser Adrienne Quinn Martin, who forcibly denounces Monica (Monica), Monica is permanently armed as a fascist by the videos recorded on her cell phone. like an episode of brian jordan alvarez's sitcom English teacher But in real life and miserable.

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, award-winning librarian Amanda Jones finds herself estranged from her Christian nationalist father – although it's clear her mother is quietly sitting with her courageous daughter , she tried to fight back against her accuser by filing a defamation suit, which she lost.

The parallels to McCarthyism are highlighted not only through clippings of Joe McCarthy himself and his attacks on controversial books from the 1940s/50s, but also through still-shocking film and television footage, including from twilight zone Dystopian plot “Man of Time”, starring Burgess Meredith, and Francois Truffaut's 1966 adaptation of Ray Bradbury Bradbury's novels Fahrenheit 451. (Nicolas Roeg’s cinematography still shines.) Shots of Nazis burning books and books expressing sympathy for members of the LGBTQIA+ community move seamlessly from the black-and-white 1930s newsreel to Colors, revealing the burning that occurred in Tennessee several years ago. Kudos to supervising editor Mark Becker and his team who never missed a cut. A deft level of craftsmanship is maintained throughout, while contemporary composer Nico Muhly's bed of aching music adds just the right tone of hopeful, bright despair.