Ex Libris: New York Public Library. 2017. USA. Directed by Frederick Wiseman. DCP. 197 min.
During a career that spans five decades, Frederick Wiseman has gazed on democratic vistas—parks, village communities, polyglot city neighborhoods—and has revealed in the functioning of state legislatures, hospitals, museums, and schools a rich and complexly embroidered portrait of democracy at its best and worst. His most recent film, *Ex Libris*—“one of the greatest movies of Mr. Wiseman’s extraordinary career and one of his most thrilling,” writes New York Times critic Manohla Dargis—is a magnificent, inspiring look at the New York City public library system, which by serving generations of immigrants for more than a century has strengthened the ties that bind our nation’s citizenry. Courtesy of Zipporah Films.