Taking Liberties (2007) Movie Review

This doc's disarmingly entertaining style is reminiscent of Michael Moore's work. But Atkins avoids the polemic approach, merely observing like a true documentarian. The result is unambiguous and urgent--and unmissable.

As our politicians talk about liberty, democracy and the war on terror, we are ignoring what's actually happening here at home. Our own freedoms have been completely eroded by governments willing to shred history. This film examines how Britain's government has undermined five key civil rights guaranteed by the Magna Carta and the European Convention on Human Rights. Everything is shown straight from the headlines, and yet the real truth overturning nearly a thousand years of freedom and democracy. And opening us up to a real possibility of ruthless tyranny.

It shows in no uncertain terms that the British public no longer has the right to protest, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the assumption of innocence until proven guilty, the guarantee not to be detained without charge or protection from torture. It's impossible to over-stress the importance of this film. Government leaders claim that "we won't let the terrorists change our way of life", then they proceed to dismantle that very way of life. And we let them.

Each example shown in this film is harrowing and unnerving, never exaggerated to manipulate our opinion--from the two people repeatedly arrested for daring to read out names of dead Iraqi civilians to two young sisters locked up in isolation for 36 hours while the police raided their family's home in the middle of the night.

We meet Mouloud Sihali, acquitted of involvement in the fabricated "North London ricin plot", and yet still under house arrest today. John Catt was charged under the Terrorism Act for wearing an anti-Blair t-shirt. Moazzam Begg was tortured in Bagram and Guantanemo without charge for three years. Walter Wolfgang, age 82, was arrested as a terrorist for shouting, "Nonsense!" at the 2005 Labour Party Conference. These are things we expect from a totalitarian dictatorship, not our leaders.

The filmmakers tellingly weave in historically relevant events like the Suffragette movement, Hitler's rise in the late 1930s, and Britain's 1990 poll-tax riots. There's also contemporary footage that clearly shows how our leaders have changed before our eyes. This is far more than shameful; this is horrific material, assembled with clarity and skill in an engaging, riveting way. We must open our eyes. And raise our voices.