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Bush Bites the Dust in Assassination Docudrama
Most of the discussion surrounding this controversial docudrama has revolved around whether it’s okay to depict the assassination of a sitting president. Now, if you believe in freedom of speech, next, you’ve got to ask yourself how you feel about specifically seeing George Bush wasted. The answer to that question is likely to depend on which side of the aisle you align yourself with, as was the case with such politically polarizing pictures as Fahrenheit 9/11 and V for Vendatta.
As a film critic, you find yourself almost in a no-win situation whenever you choose to review a movie like Death of a President, because most of the audience is predisposed to love or hate the film, and has already formed an opinion about it before entering the theater. So, I have learned to brace myself for the hate mail, which has less to do with what was onscreen than with ideological arguments.
That being said, Death of a President is actually an intelligent and fairly compelling docudrama, which opens on October 19, 2007 with Bush about to land in Chicago where he is set to deliver a patriotic speech at a Republican fundraiser in a ballroom full of supporters. Outside, however, the cops are doing there best to keep an unruly crowd of picketers at bay, irate of an array of the administration’s policies.
Afterwards, as the Secret Service escorts the President out of the hotel, he is felled by a bullet to the chest. The agents help him into his limousine and the motorcade rushes to the hospital where the mortally-wounded Bush soon expires.
In the proverbial rush to judgment, the FBI fingers a Middle Eastern man (Zahra Abi Zikri), based on shaky circumstantial evidence alone, even though there had been plenty of other suspects in the windy City that night with a motive to murder the President. Besides Arab terrorists, it could have been the work of any number of fed up and frustrated activists from the lunatic fringe.
In fact, there were so many Bush haters out there, on both the left and the right, that the authorities received thousands of tips blaming responsibility on radicals with anti-war, pro-environment, pro-choice, even white supremacist agendas. But the government conveniently opted to ignore the possibility that the assassin could have been homegrown, unraveling that mystery is the prevailing plotline in Death of a President.
With an innocent Muslim sitting on Death Row, the movie makes some very powerful statements about the Patriot Act, the erosion of our Constitutional rights, and the abuse of power, all while amply illustrating why an awful lot of red-blooded Americans feel betrayed by Dubya? Do the Feds crack the case? Yes, and the fruits of that very deliberate investigation is what ultimately makes the movie worthwhile in this critic’s opinion.
Though this flashback flick contains a standard disclaimer about its being a fictional account, that must be the director’s idea of a tongue-in-cheek joke, because who else could Bush be playing except himself? And Dick Cheney deserves an Oscar-nomination for delivering such a heartfelt eulogy at his boss’ funeral after ascending to the Presidency.
Overall, Death of a President must be dubbed a technical masterpiece, as it
seamlessly weaves reams of real footage in with staged events to create a not too distant future where this scenario could actually be played out. It’s also a bit anti-climactic after Bush is blown away, bogging down till we arrive at the surprising and satisfactory conclusion. And, of course, it’s ethically debatable, since we don’t want to encourage copycat killers.Next year, beware the 19th of October.
Excellent (4 stars)
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