Taking Liberties Reviews

Amanda Speedie's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Good Points: Atkins weaves graphics, documentary and news footage, personal stories and information about legislation to expose the deeply disturbing changes that have come about in the UK over the last ten years.

General comments: Human rights organizations, politicians, academics and lawyers contribute, and the film also focuses on ordinary people who have had enough. They feel compelled to protest and complain about the loss of civil liberties such as freedom of speech, (which has always been sacrosanct in Britain), being presumed innocent until proven guilty, our rights to privacy, the illegality of torture, and the rest.

The film records instances of the Police being used as Government tools to control the unruly population who, when peacefully protesting, are now considered a security risk and a terrorist threat, eg a busload of women and a couple of elderly ladies.

Other protestors who sit quietly outside companies where Guantanamo shackles are made, or where missile parts are manufactured are subjected to heavy-handed policing. Whilst protestors outside your factory may be unsightly and a nuisance, their presence is not illegal. It is now.

Of all the examples shown in the film, the persecution and harassment of Muslims is very troubling.

But, by far the most disturbing part of the documentary is being made aware of the level of surveillance in the UK today. Information is necessary and useful but any unqualified idiot can be employed to sit and watch CCTV cameras, medical and tax records can be misused, and computers can fail. These records provide a directory which makes 'ethnic cleansing' swift and efficient. The parallels with Nazi Germany are too terrifying to contemplate.