TAKING LIBERTIES ON BROAD STREET

08-06-2007

At last it’s here…the long-awaited premiere of Taking Liberties, the movie which exposes how our freedoms are being taken from us and which has been dubbed “the British Fahrenheit 9/11”. It opens tonight at Cineworld in Birmingham and director Chris Atkins has been telling us all about it.

Chris grew up in Bromsgrove but when he got bitten by the movie making bug in the 90’s he moved to London where in his own words, he “got lucky”, and fell in with fading punk star Richard Jobson.

He produced a couple of films for the ex-Skids singer, and so established himself in an industry which is notoriously difficult to break into.

As for directing, though, which is the Holy Grail for most wannabees, Chris held off until the time was right: “Lots of people want to direct for directing’s sake, and to satisfy their ego, not because they have a story to tell.”

It was political re-awakening that finally prodded him into action. Chris explains: “I was always a political animal. When I was a kid my dad taught politics and history [at Bromsgrove School, where he was deputy head] and there would always be rows over the breakfast table.

“I grew up in the Thatcher era, when there were more than three million on the dole. It was really bad back then. It really polarised the country. Those Tory years hurt a lot of people.

“But once Blair was elected, I stopped reading the newspapers, or watching Newsnight. I though everything was all fine. It took a few years before we woke up.

“Iraq changed everything, and in 2004/05 started getting political again. I realised that for 6 or 7 years the country had gone to sleep and all these laws had been passed, reducing our liberty.”

And so the idea for the film was born, and Chris obviously hopes it will be a big hit - not least in his native West Midlands, which gets a starring role when protestors turn up at the Hiatts factory in Great Barr.

“When I first heard it, I couldn’t believe it. This is a factory where they make shackles that end up at Guantanamo Bay. I though it couldn’t be the case but it was.

“200 years ago, the same company made “nigger collars” for slaves, now they make shackles which are specifically designed to inflict pain.

“If nothing else that’s why a this film matters to a Midlands audience.”

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