Death of a President

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Death of a President
Directed by	Gabriel Range
Produced by	Gabriel Range Simon Finch Ed Guiney
Written by	Gabriel Range Simon Finch
Starring	Hend Ayoub Brian Boland Becky Ann Baker
Music by	Richard Harvey
Cinematography	Graham Smith
Editing by	Brand Thumim
Distributed by	Newmarket Films
Release date(s)	September 10, 2006
Running time	115 minutes with commercials, 93 minutes without
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English, Arabic

Death of a President (2006), directed by Gabriel Range, is a British fictional documentary about the assassination of George W. Bush, the 43rd U.S. President, on 19 October 2007, in Chicago. By means of archival film footage, actors, and computer-generated special effects, the assassination is the thematic beginning of serious discussions about civil disobedience, racial profiling, the U.S. Government's reduction of the civil liberties of its populace, news sensationalism as agitational propaganda, and the theory of The Just War.

The premiere showing was at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September, and in the U.K., it was broadcast on the More 4 channel on 9 October, then Channel 4 broadcast it on 19 October 2006 — a year to the day of the assassination date. It was broadcast in Finland on 18 October 2007 — the assassination date's eve. In Japan, despite governmental interference, the film was exhibited in cinemas on 6 October 2007.

Newmarket paid one million dollars for the U.S. distribution rights,^[1], the total production budget for the film was two million dollars. The film showed in theaters for 14 days, it's widest release was 143 theaters, and worldwide it grossed $869,352. ^[2]

[edit] Plot

Broadcast in 2008, Death of a President is a faux documentary news report, with talking head interviews, about the assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush on 19 October 2007, in Chicago. The television news report how a sniper fatally shot the President after his giving an economic speech at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel, before which an anti-war protest rally was occurring. A man of Syrian origin, Jamal Abu Zikri, becomes the prime suspect.

Vice President Dick Cheney, now president, uses the possible al-Qaeda connection of the suspected assassin, Zikri, to push his own domestic political security agenda. He calls for the legislation of PATRIOT Act III — to increase the investigative powers of the F.B.I., the police, and other government agencies, over U.S. citizens and resident aliens, and contemplates attacking Syria.

Zikri is convicted of killing the U.S. President and sentenced to death — based upon dubious forensic evidence; moreover, the report indicates that the perpetrator most likely is Al Claybon, a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, who lived in Rock Island, Illinois, and who also was father of David Claybon, a U.S. soldier recently killed in Iraq. The assassin, who blames President Bush for the death of his son, killed himself after Bush's assassination. Claybon's suicide note, addressed to a second son, Casey Claybon, an Iraq War veteran living in Chicago who was previously considered as a suspect, reads:

Ten months after President Bush's assassination, Zikri remains in death row at Stateville Correctional Center, because government officials are deliberately delaying his legal appeal. Moreover, in his dead father's Rock Island house, Casey Claybon finds evidence of his father's planning of the shooting of President Bush; the most incriminating evidence is a copy of a top secret presidential itinerary outlining — to the minute — President Bush's Chicago whereabouts on 19 October 2007. The news report ends while the U.S. Government continues investigating how presidential assassin Al Claybon obtained that top secret document.

The final inter-titles of Death of a President tell the viewer that President Cheney's PATRIOT Act III was signed into permanent United States law.

[edit] Production

The chief surgeon's comment, that he has "never seen such a strong heart in a man of the president's age", is an "obvious reference" to ex-president Reagan; President Cheney's eulogy for G.W. Bush is a news clip of Cheney's eulogy for Reagan; and some funeral scenes are from Reagan's funeral.^[3]

[edit] Reception

The central conceit of Death of a President was much criticised by those who believed it exploitative of the subject of presidential assassination, and that doing so is in bad taste. The Texas Republican Party described the subject matter as "shocking" and "disgusting".^[4] U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, Dem., N.Y., told the Journal News of Rockland, Westchester, and Putnam counties, New York, at the annual New Castle Community Day in Chappaqua: "I think it's despicable. I think it's absolutely outrageous. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick".^[5]

Simon Finch, the co-screenwriter, replied saying that Sen. Clinton had not seen the film when she commented.^[6] The Bush Administration did not comment about the film. Robert Kramer, a film extra who appears (as a man in the ropeline) in the assassination scene, asked that his image be deleted from the movie, saying that the film makers deceived the actors about their true intent in the pseudo-documentary.^{[citation needed]} Two U.S. cinema chains, Regal and Cinemark, refused to screen Death of a President,^[7][8] which Newmarket Films distributes in the U.S.; CNN and NPR refused to broadcast adverts for Death of a President.^[9]

Movie, film, and cinema critics had mixed opinions about Death of a President; the Metacritic aggregate website rating is 49, "generally mixed", based upon 30 reviews,^[10] Rotten Tomatoes rates it at 37%, "rotten", based upon 90 reviews.^[11] In Time magazine, Richard Corliss said it is "engrossing, but not enthralling", placing it in the context of other fictional assassinations, such as The Assassination of the Duc de Guise (1908) and Suddenly (1954), and television programmes such as 24, concluding that it is "not an incendiary documentary, but a well-made political thriller".^[12] In the Village Voice, J. Hoberman said it is " [d]ramatically inert, but a minor techno-miracle" ... that it "skews more theoretical than sensationalist ... Bush is presented as a martyr".^[3] James Berardinelli says that "... if this was a serious examination of the possible, long-term ramifications of George Bush's current foreign policy ... it might be justifiable. The decision to use Bush, rather than a fictional representation of him, is for no reason other than self-promotion. That makes Death of a President crass, in addition to being dull and sloppily assembled".^[13]

Of the critics who liked Death of a President, in the New York Observer, Rex Reed identified the film as "Clever, thoughtful, and totally believable. This is a film without a political agenda that everyone should see".^[14] In the Toronto Star newspaper, Peter Howell said, "The film's deeper intentions ... elevate it into the company of such landmark works of historical argument as Peter Watkins's The War Game, Costa-Gavras's Z and, closer to home, Michel Brault's Les Ordres. Every thinking person should see Death of a President ".^[15] In Film Journal International, Frank Lovece said that the film's condemnation "by politicians and pundits, from James Pinkerton to Hillary Clinton, is understandable, and completely predictable: They can't comment, so, when they do, they have to play to their audiences. None of them seriously believes that this work of fiction will really make someone take a pot-shot at the president, and anyway, the attempt on President Ronald Reagan's life came out of a crazy guy's fascination with Jodie Foster, so you may as well decry movies starring blonde, former-child-actresses".^[16]

In 2007, in Japan, the film ethics authorities prevented Death of a President from being shown in most cinemas, saying that the film's Japanese title is inappropriate.^[17] In the event, Death of a President was to begin showing in Japanese cinemas on 6 October 2007.

[edit] Awards

The film won the International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.^[18]

[edit] See also

• Assassinations in fiction
• Checkpoint

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (June 2009)

• Toronto International Film Festival: Death of a President
• Two clips from Death of a President, from Radar magazine
• BBC News (September 11, 2006): "Bush assassination film defended"
• The Washington Post (September 2, 2006): "Bush 'Assassination' Film Makes Waves Across the Pond", by Kevin Sullivan
• "The Language of Quotation" an essay containing a review of Death of a President (October 30, 2006)
• TCS Daily (September 14, 2006): "Snuff Cinema" (review of Death of a President) by James Pinkerton
• The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal (September 12, 2006): "Mockumentary Filmmaking' by Joe Morgenstern
• Townhall.com (opinion blog; September 11, 2006): "A New Low in Bush-Hatred" by Jeff Jacoby
• The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal (September 11, 2006): "ABC's Untrue Path" by John Fund
• Barista (film writer's blog; September 8, 2006): "The New Edwardians", David Tiley
• Asahi Shimbun (July 3, 2007): "Screen savers" (citing Death of a President) by Tomoya Ishikawa

[edit] External links

• Official website archive
• Death of a President online
• Death of a President at MySpace
• Death of a President at Rotten Tomatoes
• Death of a President at the Internet Movie Database