Shadows on the Wall | Arthouse Films

Shadows off the beaten path
Indies, foreign, docs and shorts...

On this page: THE LIBRARIANS | MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN

< < D O C S

See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 8.Feb.26

The Librarians
Review by Rich Cline | 4/5

MUST SEE

The Librarians
dir Kim A Snyder
prd Kim A Snyder, Maria Cuomo Cole, Janique L Robillard, Jana Edelbaum
with Suzette Baker, Amanda Jones, Julie Miller, Carolyn Foote, Martha Hickson, Marie Masferrer, Nancy Jo Lambert, Jeffrey Dove, Weston Brown, Kennedy Tackett, Laney Hawes, Courtney Gore
release US 26.Sep.25,
UK 7.Oct.25
25/US 1h28

SUNDANCE FILM FEST

Now streaming...

Addressing the important issue of book banning, this open-handed, honest documentary can't help but get our blood boiling. It chronicles the systemic removal of library books dealing with poverty, race, gender and any hint of sexuality, falsely labelling them as pornography. But for trained librarians, this violated their professional ethics. So they fought back against what proved to be a far-too-organised attack on privacy and intellectual freedom.

In Texas, a Republican politician sends a list of 850 books to be removed from libraries, backed by Governor Greg Abbott. Ignorant parents leap on the bandwagon, as do timid school administrators and politicians who contrive to link ideologies with "smut and porn". But librarians were appalled, noting the clear parallels with McCarthyism and Nazi Germany. As boon-banning spreads across the US, activists push their prejudices on everyone in the name of "family values". But librarians know that this is deliberately targeting the best books ever written, those that help people think for themselves.

Emotive and honest, this expertly assembled doc hinges on the fact that any librarian, or anyone who has read Ray Bradbury's seminal novel Fahrenheit 451, understands that the only people hurt by banning books are kids. Hiding a book is like telling a child with any kind of diversity that they need to be removed from civilisation, that they're unworthy of existence. Most insultingly, this movement is led by groups like Moms for Liberty who claim to be serving God, but they are actually pushing political views and bigotries. And they have become oppressors. It's important to remember that there is no pornography in school libraries, because librarians won't allow it. What activists label as "smut and porn" is actually just something they disagree with or don't understand.

The film is a terrific mix of interviews, newsreel footage past and cleverly selected film clips. Many of these caring librarians were sacked and violently threatened for merely asking questions. They know that it's important to read stories and history that makes us feel uncomfortable. But others want us to only read narratives that support their views, even if they're false. They want to control all dissemination of information. And the hugely inspiring, passionate librarians know that they have no choice but to take a stand for what's right. It's clear who actually cares about the children.

themes, language 5.Feb.26

Mr Nobody Against Putin
Review by Rich Cline | 4/5

MUST SEE

dir-scr David Borenstein
prd Helle Faber
with Pavel Talankin, Pavel Abdulmanov, Vladimir Putin, Joseph Stalin, Lavrenti Beria, Viktor Abakumov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Yevhen Konovalets, Vladimir Kara-Murza
release UK 14.Oct.25,
US 21.Jan.26
25/Denmark 1h29

SUNDANCE FILM FEST

Now streaming...

Tracing the work of a Russian teacher through his own eyes, this documentary bristles with his cheeky, honest personality. Frustrated by demands that he convey government propaganda, he opts instead to make this film. Russia's insidiously manipulative messaging is frightening, especially as it echoes so strongly in how other governments deliberately lie to create their own false histories. This is an inspiring, powerfully personal film with huge ramifications.

Likeable young teacher Pavel Talankin, known as Pasha, is videographer and event coordinator at a state school in Karabash, a badly polluted town in Russia's industrial heartland. In 2022, Putin launches his "special military operation" into Ukraine, and federal orders demand that teachers enforce a new patriotic curriculum supporting the war. Angry at being required to deliver false lessons, he resigns. But a filmmaker in Europe asks him to document the situation there, even though it's illegal to do so. So he gets his job back and starts filming everything, becoming increasingly defiant.

Pasha narrates the film with a jaunty, self-deprecating sense of humour. He uses deadpan sarcasm to explain how teachers are forced to talk about Ukraine's "demilitarisation" and "denazification" while guest speakers delivering absurdly warped messages. Pasha is a hugely likeable guy who simply refuses to be a pawn of the corrupt regime. He encourages the kids to express themselves, argues about politics with his cranky mother and is often accompanied by his adorable dachshund Nebraska. He maintains relationships with his past students; terrifyingly, many of them are of age for military service.

It's fascinating to see this kind young man face such an unthinkable situation. Pasha films several unnerving events, including a pro-war rally that reflects how the propaganda has shifted the national mood. And he documents creeping militarism in the educational system and how soldiers' deaths are routinely covered up. He watches the chilling effect this loss of freedom is having on the children. And he realises that he is putting himself in danger. "I might love Russia more than the regime's supporters do," Pasha says. "Love for your country means saying, 'We've got a problem.'"

themes, language 4.Feb.26

< < D O C S
See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL