I watched Taking Liberties last week — the official site says:
Right to Protest, Right to Freedom of Speech. Right to Privacy. Right not to be detained without charge, Innocent Until Proven Guilty. Prohibition from Torture. TAKING LIBERTIES will reveal how these six central pillars of liberty have been systematically destroyed by New Labour, and the freedoms of the British people stolen from under their noses amidst a climate of fear created by the media and government itself.
Which is pretty much what it does. It’s a film made up of separate stories, all true, highlighting the erosion of our civil liberties. A film like this could have been a disjointed affair but it’s actually structured in a sensible way that makes it hold together very well as a film. Of course it has a bit of an agenda but the examples they show are still disturbing enough even if they’ve been cherry picked to show the extremes. I’d have liked to see more of the government trying to justify themselves, mostly it’s stock footage and ‘ambush’ interviews, but I guess there wasn’t much chance of getting ol’ Tony to do a sit down interview for a film like this.
All in all it’s an excellent film and one that you really should see, just to see some of the stuff that goes on in the UK.
And last week lots of people did see it, the cinema was quite busy. And noisy. I think because it was a documentary people thought that they could add their own commentary.
Look, I know it’s a film about free speech but shut up! Or at least attempt to whisper your thoughts to your friends. You know, use your inside voice. Don’t bray loudly that about which protesters you’ve met and which fields you’ve camped in.
We might still have to time to save our civil liberties but I fear that old fashioned Great British good manners are beyond help.
Bonus film news, everyone and their dog has already linked to it but just it case you’ve not seen the trailer here’s your runaway summer blockbuster: The Simpsons Movie.