Notice: Undefined index: CountryID in /home/default/thestudentzone.com/user/htdocs/includes/header-nodomain.php on line 10
|
6TH JAN 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Student Film Review: Taking Liberties available to buy or rent now. Reviewed by Matt Arnoldi
A few years ago, 9/11 gave the PM of the time Tony Blair the chance to swing through several sweeping acts of legislation that restrict a UK individual’s right to protest and the leading point of Chris Atkins’ lively documentary about the erosion of civil liberties is that we now live in a country that suggests we live in a democracy but really is anything but. Choose to criticize the government and if you speak loudly enough, you’ll have the Police on your back.
Tony Blair appears a lot in this film, Bush appears in it just a little less. They have a lot to answer for. This is a film that follows a series of cases where people who are not a danger in this country, reveal how their rights to peaceful protest were thwarted by outrageous and blatant acts from the Police who of course are supposed to be serving the people but are shown instead to be an organ of the government.
The DVD has extended interviews with the likes of Mark Thomas, Andrew Gilligan, Joanna Lumley and London Mayor candidate Boris Johnson. Contributors include Tony Benn, Martin Bell, Max Hastings, Michael Mansfield, Brian Haw and Shami Chakrabarti amongst others. It’s a feisty and lively film that serves to embarrass the government and the Police, combining interviews, footage of politicians, news clips, cartoon animation, and film of peaceful protests. Its illuminating stuff with narration from David Morrissey and Ashley Jensen and music from Radiohead, Oasis and Franz Ferdinand.
The style is very much Michael Moore-ish since it combines shows many well edited clips meshed into a comprehensive attack on a government that has quietly but systematically weakened our civil liberties in a bid to achieve a greater control over the nation as a whole. The trouble is they’ve done it and we’ve let it happen. More fool us.
There’s a fine line as this entertaining pot pourri of stories suggests, between the right to peaceful protest and the need for greater terrorist security. The film starts and ends with a group of women who were blatantly denied the chance to protest peacefully about the war in Iraq by the Police and the film shows how the Lords finally ruled that the actions of the police were deemed to be unlawful in this case. It’s a film that deserves wider coverage. Whether any TV channel is brave enough to show it some way down the line remains to be seen.
Provided by The Student Zone (United Kingdom) |
|
| |
Notice: Undefined index: LoggedIn in /home/default/thestudentzone.com/user/htdocs/articles/article.php on line 413
|
|
|
|
|
 |
HOME -
TRAVEL
-
FINANCE
-
CAREERS
-
COLLEGE & UNI GUIDES
-
FEATURES
-
ENTERTAINMENT
-
COMPETITIONS
-
INTERACTIVE
-
CONTACT
|
|
