Reviewed by Craig C., Senior Materials Handler

Law and Order, a documentary directed by Frederick Wiseman, is available to stream with Kanopy.

With protests about police violence continuing nationwide and calls for defunding and reform, it’s instructive to watch the 1969 documentary Law and Order. Filmed on the streets and in the precincts of Kansas City, Missouri’s police department, Frederick Wiseman’s film follows rank-and-file patrolmen as they respond to reports of domestic violence, theft, public drunkenness, a hit and run with a stolen car, vagrancy, prostitution, creating a public disturbance, an abandoned child, truancy, and a custody dispute.

In a few cases, the arresting officers use force that could be considered excessive, including putting a woman in a choke hold and telling her “Go on, resist.” There’s also a discussion of terminology to use with the public at a morning roll call which doesn’t quite sink in for one of the officers who feels singled out. The moment that sticks out most, though, is the casual discussion between two patrolmen in their cars about using tear gas during the recent protests. One even regrets not being able to throw his, an astonishing confession considering they’re both well aware they’re being filmed. In light of what we’re seeing now thanks to the proliferation of cell phone cameras, it’s clear the more some things change, the more they stay the same.

This is review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to the Library's mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship. 

In this 60 Second Review, Librarian Ginny shares the picture book Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett and talks about how it connects with early literacy themes. For more video reviews subscribe to our YouTube Channel and check the Finding Value: 60 Second Reviews playlist. 

This review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to our mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship. 

Reviewed by Dean M., Materials Handler

Right Now, Wrong Then directed by Hong Sang-Soo is also available to stream on Hoopla.

This autobiographically inspired story is about a Korean film director, Han Chun-su, who meets Hee-jung, a young painter, while on a business trip. He arrives a day ahead of schedule and has time to waste as he walks around and looks at buildings and structures. The two characters meet randomly at a temple-like structure and agree to have coffee, talk about life, art and other things. Hee-jung says she knows about the Han's work and that she enjoys his films. Hee-jung allows Han to follow her around the city and they grow fonder of each other as the film moves on.

The film is shot in two parts. The first part is what is "wrong", and the second part is what is "right". It is essentially the same story told twice, but with subtle yet profound variations in each part. This works somewhat like a butterfly effect for how each of the two parallel parts end. For example, in part one Han fails to admit that he is married until the end of the night. This leads the Hee-jung to completely reject the romantic feelings that were building, obviously. In part two, Han discloses that he is married earlier on in the narrative, causing the two characters to have a nice ending to their adventures. 

In the second part of the film, Han values moral integrity by being honest with the Hee-jung. The value of integrity and honesty is a major difference between the second and first parts. This film shows how it can be beneficial to have moral integrity as a value and to practice it. Right Now, Wrong Then was directed by Hong Sang-Soo, a Korean filmmaker who often writes his screenplays autobiographically. He is a professor of film and his film crews consist largely of pupils who are more willing to help than to get reimbursed. The Library owns several of Sang-Soo's other films, which are also recommended.

This is review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to the Library's mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship.

Reviewed by Bill K., Materials Handler

Fagin the Jew by Will Eisner is instantly available as an ebook on Hoopla.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is certainly a classic of literature. Whether one has read the book or merely seen one of the dozens of adaptations, the title character’s story and the image of him asking for more endures in the cultural consciousness even 180 years since it was published.

It was another character, however, that stuck in the mind of Will Eisner, the comics legend long-considered the creator of the “graphic novel”: Fagin, the leader of the gang of thieves who take Oliver in, notorious from the book’s initial publishing as a horrifically antisemitic caricature. Despite some later depictions de-emphasizing his Jewish ancestry, the antisemitic sting of the character has never really gone away.

Eisner takes the opposite approach in his 2003 graphic novel Fagin the Jew, making the character an unabashed and proud Jew. The book frames its story with Fagin awaiting his execution after the events of Oliver Twist, speaking directly to Dickens and sharing his life story and his side of the story.

The reader sees Fagin, a poor Ashkenazi Jew in England, forced into crime at a young age to survive, and seeking a better life not just to better himself, but to do his community proud. In these early pages, Eisner gives a look at Jewish life in pre-Victorian England, both the squalor of the poor as well as the upper class, politicking their way to something close to acceptance in English high society. Close to, but never fully; even though they were tolerated in Britain more than much of Europe at the time, Jews were still othered and never fully equal.

It almost seems like a Dickens tale itself, with Fagin’s boyhood reflecting Oliver’s story. Except every time Dickens might give his protagonist a joyful reprieve or happy ending, Eisner offers no such comforts. Try as he might, Fagin can never escape the prejudices against his race, both personal and structural. It is an ultimately tragic story, even with a somewhat positive postscript.

Eventually, Fagin meets and partners with the vicious criminal Sikes, leading into a retelling of the story everyone knows but from his viewpoint. Eisner depicts all the tragedies in Oliver Twist’s final act and climax as tragic misunderstandings on Fagin’s part. Truth be told, this section of the narrative is not quite as interesting as Eisner’s fully original anti-Dickensian tale. Still, it is ultimately fitting to the whole, showing how prejudices and assumptions can make simple villains out of complicated situations and imperfect people.

The theme, and value, of Fagin the Jew is respect. Fagin’s quest for respect in a society which will never give it to him, and his—and by extension, Eisner’s—demand of respect for the Jewish people. Indeed, in one scene, the author seems to speak through the title character, in a soapbox moment giving a passionate defense of his people and lashing out at the stereotypes in his depiction (Dickens himself doesn’t come off so positively).

Eisner’s artwork is charming, warmly evoking classic literature illustrations. And the story they’re telling is an impassioned, proudly Jewish story that’s as readable and investing as the type of timeless classic literature it deconstructs.

This is review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to the Library's mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship.