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October 2006
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doap

So last night a group of colleagues and I got together to watch a couple films—the first being the controversial British film, Death of a President.

Death of a President features the assignation of George W. Bush and is a retrospective documentary based on the events of October 17, 2007. I saw a number of reviews of the film, and stealing straight from the film’s website, the negative reviews are amusing:

“I think it’s despicable.” Hillary Clinton

“I find this shocking, I find it disturbing. I don’t know if there are many people in America who would want to watch something like that.” Gretchen Esell, Republican Party of Texas

I find these reviews amusing because it shows how these individuals are unable to separate fact from fiction (without even having seen the film!). This film is clearly fiction—although it does seem to reflect current political and societal winds rather well.

Overall I give the film high marks for the first 75 minutes. It seemed to me the way that the story was told reflects how such a narrative would actually be told, had it really happened. Thus the fact that George W. Bush was the assassins target gives us a real world target and, consequently, a real world emotional response to the hypothetical fictional events. The mood of the room seemed to reflect this—there were gasps of shock when Bush was assassinated (and, to be honest, some cheering by non-Americans).

There are a number of interesting lessons that the movie conveys about how people and societies respond to traumatic events and the rush to judgment. The film does a good job, for the most part of showing the consequences. However the last 15 minutes, or so, seem to be a dramatic rush to try and tie together all the remaining plot lines instead of letting them develop a bit further and find a smoother ending to the story.

This film is not a liberal attempt to bash a conservative president: it’s a hypothetical story about the consequences of individual actions.

It opens today, October 27, in the United States; if it’s near you, it’s worth going.

9 comments to doap

  • MT

    Right, like that movie will ever come to my neck of the woods.

    I’d lay odds that if you rent it from Netflix, you end up on the FBI watchlist or something. You could be a terrorist, after all.

  • It may come to your neck of the woods… the poll I saw today said your favorite Republican congressman was headed for defeat by a *GASP* Democrat.

    So either the poll was very wrong or we have something to cheer about.

  • Ed

    At the risk of realizing I no longer live in a country that allows free speech I must say the cheering would be heard across this once great land from sea to shining sea. still, I would miss his satanic smirk and what would his rich friends do? If they followed his lead, they would attack Canada in reprisal for his death. I would love to have that movie shown to Bushie while he is aboard air force one. Oh the joy!!!!

  • MT

    I’ve seen the same polling numbers around here and am willing to bet that the Rep. is going to lose. That said, our Dem. has the same positions on just about everything that the Rep. does — and some are actually more conservative. Ugh.

  • J

    Thanks for the review. I had heard about that movie and was wondering if was was any good or not.

  • I would love to see that!

  • Hey everybody. There are easy ways to obtain this movie… without renting it.

  • It opened in DC, where I live, this past Friday. The Washington Post review echoes what you say, pretty much — that the film is good for quite a bit until it unravels at the end. I’d like to go see it, if only to see what the fuss is about. I suppose they could have done the same thing with a fictional president, but it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

  • “Death of a President” isn’t showing here in Victoria, BC, but Yahoo Movies reveals that it’s playing at 5 theatres in the Vancouver area.

    I did get to see a movie about our official head of state, Queen Elizabeth, on Saturday night. The movie was called “The Queen” and starred Helen Mirren in a good performance: http://ca.movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809426253/info