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Taking Liberties [2007] [DVD]

DVD ~ Chris Atkins

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	71% buy the item featured on this page: Taking Liberties [2007] [DVD] 4.5 out of 5 stars (12) �4.98
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Product details

Directors: Chris Atkins
Format: PAL
Language English
Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Classification: 15
Studio: Revolver Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 15 Oct 2007
Run Time: 101 minutes

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

ASIN: B000S6UZRO
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 10,409 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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DVD Description

With the 'shockumentary' TAKING LIBERTIES, director Chris Atkins puts Tony Blair's New Labour government firmly in his crosshairs and takes aim.

Reviled over his handling of the 'War on Terror' and special relationship with U.S. President George W Bush, Blair's image took a very public battering from which it never fully recovered.

Much like Michael Moore sought to undermine the U.S. administration and make a fool out of the president with FARENHEIT 9/11, Atkins has constructed a similar argument using previously unseen footage intercutting with commentary from various talking heads such as Mark Thomas, Boris Johnson and Tony Benn as well as other leading politicians, celebrities, human rights organisations, academics and more.

The result is a revealing and entertaining look at the burning issues of the UK today.

Synopsis

With the 'shockumentary' TAKING LIBERTIES, director Chris Atkins puts Tony Blair's New Labour government firmly in his crosshairs and takes aim. Reviled over his handling of the 'War on Terror' and special relationship with U.S. President George W Bush, Blair's image took a very public battering from which it never fully recovered. Accused of everything from destroying civil liberties to using the media to create a climate of fear, Britain's former PM became the perfect scapegoat for frustrated liberals with an axe to grind and no real sense of the wider issues that influenced his policy-making. But just as 'Bush-bashing' has swept America, so too has 'Blair-baiting' become a fashionable pastime among the U.K. left. Much like Michael Moore sought to undermine the U.S. administration and make a fool out of the president with FARENHEIT 9/11, Atkins has constructed a similarly glib argument using a proven method of intercutting previously unseen footage with commentary from various talking heads--politicians, celebrities, human rights organisations, academics, and lawyers--and set it to the requisite pumping soundtrack (to attract the young vote). He also draws on isolated incidents of public injustice to strengthen his case, such as the teenage sisters who were detained for 36 hours for a peaceful protest. Taken out of context, these episodes form a persuasive argument, not to mention an alarming portrait of the British justice system. While TAKING LIBERTIES might be seen by some as pandering to public opinion, its heart is certainly in the right place, and if nothing else, it serves as a lesson in documentary filmmaking.

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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4.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars in The Guardian, 16 Oct 2007

By	Review Monkey - See all my reviews

Peter Bradshaw
Friday June 8, 2007
The Guardian

It may not tell us much that's new, but there's something exhilarating about this thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile docu-blast against Tony Blair's insidious diminution of native British liberties. Director Chris Atkins shows how, since 1997, New Labour's residual passion for ideology, combined with a fear of looking Spartist or soft on terror, has combined to deliver a panic-stricken abandonment of liberties that we'd somehow held on to in the face of Nazi Germany and the IRA.

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Some pundits may find it deficient in sophistication or the fence-sitting neutrality of good taste; for me it was a vitamin-boost of scepticism. Cheerful, polemical and tactless, Atkins's film raises a celebratory glass to the spirit of British awkwardness and bloody-mindedness, the dissident spirit that infuses both the anti-war protesters and the Countryside Alliance - Mark Thomas and Boris Johnson alike. "What about Magna Carta?" demands Tony Hancock in a nicely chosen clip. "Did she die in vain?" In the strangest way, Hancock is the tutelary deity behind many of the English protesters here: very often elderly and apolitical souls who feel they have earned the right not to be bullied by the macho-menopausal apparatchiks of the Blair/Brown succession.
It is an old story. Mr Blair was once ferociously against ID cards, and now he loves them. He once regaled audiences with anecdotes, combined with bittersweet shrugs, to the effect that protesters yelled nasty things at him as he was driven into Westminster in his official car, but gosh, how wonderful to live in a country where folk are free to shout nasty things. Now he feels he can and will live without these protesters. He is an enthusiast for increasing detention without charge, for the vast internment camp at Guant�namo Bay. And this trained barrister is not straining his forensic and analytic abilities to investigate the mounting circumstantial evidence that extraordinary rendition flights are stopping off at Manchester and Prestwick.

September 11 was the key event - and yet the Anglo-American crackdown on radical Islamic terrorism is, in the oddest way, not the most powerful moment in the movie. That honour goes to the case of the NatWest Three: three British bankers accused of white-collar fraud by the American authorities and extradited there with no evidence presented to the British CPS. Our submission to US rule on 9/11 issues simply encouraged America to believe that its writ extends beyond its borders on any and every other issue.

Atkins captures pungent moments of low comedy. A police-protected bailiff is captured thrusting court orders at protesters with a jolly cry of "Served!" Later, a protester is shown trying to turn the tables, stuffing a revised court order into the hands of a policeman who is humiliated and angered beyond any rational measure by this casting-the-runes manoeuvre. He insists the man take the document back and threatens to nick him for littering.

It all makes for a shabby and abject story, a paradoxical tale of weakness from a political generation from which 10 years ago we expected such strength and self-belief. They are still in deep denial; we are waking up.

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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking Liberties, 5 Aug 2007

By	Amy Ward "amyward83" (Scottish Borders) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw this at the cinema and would urge all who value such rights as freedom of speech, habeus corpus, right to protest and privacy as fundamentals of British society to watch this film. Director Chris Atkins reveals how laws passed in recent years have eroded these and other rights, through the use of animation, personal testimonies and some informed commentary.
In spite of the subject matter, the film does not drag and entertains. And it is both reassuring and amusing to see the very ordinary, yet very special heroes in this film, standing up for our rights in the most British of ways. They are brave folk, but do nothing that the rest of us couldn't do too, if we could only get off our backsides..
This film will make you angry, sad, frustrated, and probably shock you - it means to. Its aim is to wake us all up, before it is too late, and all our liberties have been taken away.
Buy it, watch it, inflict in on all who know you - and then get them to do the same!
Incidentally, the excellent soundtrack is available on cd and a percentage goes to Amnesty.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 Stars in The Times, 6 Nov 2007

By	Arthur Peace - See all my reviews

The Times
June 7th
James Christopher

Chris Atkins's film Taking Liberties is a grainy piece of newsreel montage about the Labour Government's broken promises over civil liberties. It begins with a coach journey to an antiIraq War rally where the police arrest assorted pensioners for wearing masks. It ends with the same piece of footage nearly two hours later, after charting the Government's extraordinary knee-jerk reactions since "the War on Terror" was declared.

I came out of this eloquent mugging exhausted and in despair. It's a film that champions free speech by a director who once championed Blair. But the case is pure dynamite. Would the Tony Blair of 1995 defend the Tony Blair of 2007? The montage of evidence suggests that we have been living in a police state for almost ten years. Atkins documents the creeping grip of CCTV cameras and the blizzard of new laws that stifle simple freedoms. The film asks hard questions about the effect the Iraq War is having on personal privacy - and the answers are shocking.

What happens to our ancient democratic rights when we need them most? The portly figure of Boris Johnson looms large and sensible out of one short interview with some wonderful advice to Government about identity cards: "Just butt out of it."

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Need to be watched
This is a fantastic film that we should all watch, it is a bit "scary" to see how our human rights are gradually being eroded. Must be watched.

Published 8 months ago by Corstorphine Girl

5.0 out of 5 stars eye-opening
really enjoyed it - important stuff if discussed here. at times it can be a bit over-dramatic but gets to grips with relevant and interestng issues. Recommend

Published 8 months ago by Ms. Nadiye G. Morgan

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking Liberties Since 1997
An interesting book whose premise is that Democracy is something that your children will read about in a book (if they're allowed to) and by the end of it, you may be inclined to... Read more

Published 17 months ago by Hillpaul

5.0 out of 5 stars wake-up
This is an amazing documentary.
I'd always had an interest in human rights and individual liberty but after watching this on More4 I realised I'd been sitting around on my... Read more

Published 18 months ago by Sarah

5.0 out of 5 stars Liberties taken
This is a film that should be seen by everyone. It is terrifying to see how far we have travelled down the road to a police state with our eyes closed.

Published 20 months ago by M. Mellor

5.0 out of 5 stars An important film all its own
I actually bought the CD soundtrack to this movie last year, long before I recently saw the film on DVD, and was not sure what to expect from the movie. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Brian Covert

4.0 out of 5 stars Building a scaffold to hang our freedom on
This documentary has been attacked as one-sided and partisan. There is certainly no doubt that it passionately argues a case rather than presenting both sides of the argument... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Mr. Patrick A. Harrington

3.0 out of 5 stars Leaves nasty taste in mouth
Thoughtful and scary documentary detailing the frightening extent to which Britain's government has curtailed civil liberties and extended the police state. Read more

Published on 24 Oct 2007 by Charles

5.0 out of 5 stars The Exposure of UK laws to come....
I watched this on the cinema, and was very surprised to find a well made, well needed film about the state of the growing government in the UK. Read more

Published on 19 Oct 2007 by S. Jackson

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