Introduction to The Freedom Season at The Victoria, Mile End. September 2011

German writer Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe once famously said “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free”.

We now live in a society where we crave freedom, freedom from the government, freedom from the police, freedom from cctv, freedom from capitalism, freedom from the banks, freedom from our parents and freedom from our spouse's. The people of the West have been taken on a ride for far too long in the belief that we are free. Many of our forefathers fought fiercely for what they believed was liberty and freedom and we now live in a country that douse's us with the notion that we live in a democratic and free society. We are led to believe that our freedom is only threatened by 'terrorists' and more recently the 'criminal underclass'. Everything you believe to be true is wrong, we are all slaves in someway to the powers that be, I need not go into a political spiel about Capitalism and America or the monetary system, I will refrain from lecturing you, but please question everything, do not fear what you are told only what you are not. Let it be known we are in chains, whatever, whoever governs the country, America, The European Union, left or right, the invisible chains of the people have been here for decades and will remain beyond our known lives.

For the next four weeks we will be celebrating the film makers who have questioned our freedom, documented our lack of it, predicted our fight for it and laughed at the notion of it.

First up is Woody Allen's 'Sleeper', Woody having been whisked from 1973 into a police state 22^nd century America meets a young Diane Keating and together they become rebels. The best commentries on society are usually the satirical and Allen's dystopian view of the future with all its underground movements, Aires Project's, society brainwashed to act in a singular fashion, are very much inspired by novels such as Orwell’s big Brother and its pre curser Yevgeny Zamyatin's 'We'.

Up next is another comedy caper poking a finger at the States (this time its foreign policies) is William Friedkin's 'Mr Freedom'. Mr freedom was made during the Vietnam war and the student riots of France 1968, it's criticism of the US and right wing politics is stark so no wonder this gem of cinema remains sadly only a favourite of hardcore cinephiles. The film features John Abbey making a star turn as Mr Freedom who is sent to France to win the French people over to the way of freedom and defeat the evil communist enemies Moujik Man and Red China Man.

Look out for the incredible ongoing cameos from Serge Gainsbourg as M.Drugstore.

'The Baader Meinhof Complex' by Uri Edel is where the season gets serious, not for those looking for laughs, violence plays heavily in this re-telling of the West German extremist group Rote Armee Fraktion who were one of Europe's most prolific and dangerous underground guerilla groups of the past 100 years. The film was criticised for glorifying the actions of this left wing group but the film is less a glorification and more an insight into the mindset of a group of young people fed up with lying down and getting fisted by their government, and who rightly or wrongly took it upon themselves to oppose them in the most extreme ways possible.

How could we end a freedom season without a good old Godard. The hero of every hip filmmaker for the last 50 years Jean Luc Godard is most commonly known for his cooool cinematography and his use of hot young french actors and actresses, but whilst many watch his movies to mark another notch on the 'cool films I have seen board' or to swoon over Anna Karina, it is all too easy to overlook his political messages. Godard was never one to shy away from poking a stick at the establishment from the truly brilliant dystopian thriller 'Alphaville' to the masterpiece of dialogue that is 'La Chinoise'.

For its colour, beauty, rebelliousness and smooth spy capers we have chosen 'Made in U.S.A' as Godard's representation for the 'Freedom season'.

Anna Karina stars as a young leftist writer and there is a lot of running around, shooting and bucket loads of 60's coolness, beneath this lies an exciting gung-ho spy flick which Godard used to comment on the obvious theme of right vrs left but also human censorship and more interestingly the murder of a left wing Moroccan politician by the name of Ben Barka who was suspected to have been assassinated by the joint efforts of the CIA and french intelligence.

Ironically but somewhat predictably this film was banned from the USA in the 60's, but us at The Victoria however bring you all these great films for FREE, and if you thought we couldn't say free again we can as we also offer you FREE popcorn.

Fin