The Librarians review - the heroic women battling against book bans and censorship

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https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/24/the-librarians-review-the-heroic-women-battling-against-book-bans-and-censorship

The Librarians review – the heroic women battling against book bans and censorship

Kim A Snyder’s documentary highlights the defenders of young readers’ rights to see their lives in print facing rightwing attacks

Cath Clarke
Wed 24 Sep 2025 08.00 EDT

There is real and genuine fear about young people’s use of pornography; usually, that conversation is about exposure to porn online, not in libraries. But this excellent culture wars documentary tells the story of book-banning in red states such as Florida and Texas, where religious rightwingers are crusading to protect children from “obscene” books. Usually that means titles about LGBTQ+ issues or race, and books about girls getting their period aren’t safe either. In Tennessee, a school board banned Maus, the graphic novel memoir of the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman, for mouse nudity. The utter nonsense of it would be funny if it wasn’t so disturbing.

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Out on the frontline, in school board meetings and public libraries, conservatives vent their outrage. In Granbury, Texas mum of nine Monica Brown believes her pastor should pick the books stocked in the library. Her gay son has other ideas. The heroes of the film are the librarians. Ordinarily, it would be tempting to insert a joke here. But these (mostly) women risk being fired from their jobs, and are routinely targeted with hateful vitriol. “Pornographer!” “Paedophile!” yells one man at a meeting, blood vessels popping. Another guy brings along a firearm: “I know where you live.” Incredibly principled and brave, the librarians talk about their vocation and standing up for the young people for whom libraries are a safe space where they can discover their identity in the pages of books. They really are superwomen.

… trailer at link …

The Librarians is out on 26 September in the UK and US.