Reuters: Controversial "Death of a President" film debuts (in Toronto)

[Up2Late]

(Funny how THIS "Docu-Drama" is NOT getting any American Media coverage. I bet it gets banned from American theaters and stores.)

Controversial "Death of a President" film debuts

Mon Sep 11, 2006 05:58 PM ET

By Arthur Spiegelman

TORONTO (Reuters) - After you kill off President George W. Bush in a fictional film, what do you do? How about make a deal. Gabriel Range, the British producer/director/creator of "Death of a President," the fictional documentary that sight unseen became one of the most talked-about movies of the Toronto Film Festival, said on Monday that he was close to getting the film a distribution deal in the United States.

In an interview with Reuters, he declined to give details but said a deal could be announced before the end of the week. The film is set to air on Britain's Channel 4 in October as well as be distributed on DVDs and in cinemas.

His film opened on Sunday night to a sell-out festival crowd, which sat respectfully through it and applauded briefly at the end. Those who remained after the screening peppered the filmmaker with questions on how he achieved his special effects.

The film is shot as if it were a conventional television documentary, even though the events it depicts never happened. Range uses film taken of Bush during three visits to Chicago to create the scenes that lead up top the president being shot.

(more at link) <http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=13452902&src=rss/domesticNews>

[brentspeak]

1. I don't like the idea of this film.

I don't have to like Bush to despise the premise of a President being assassinated.

[Up2Late]

2. Me neither, the idea of "President Cheney" scares the hell out of me...

...but the fact that the American "news" media is completely silent about it IS very interesting to me.

[Susang]

3. Not here in Chicago

There have been many stories on local news about the film, some showing still photos taken from the movie.

[Up2Late]

4. That make sense, seeing how it's set in Chicago.

They are probably worried about RW Protesters coming to town, seeing how it appears that some of Bush's supporters don't seem to understand the difference between Fiction and non-fiction.

[SandyPond]

17. I agree

the premise of this movie is just unseemly

[chat_noir]

5. It really is a scary movie, according to the Toronto Star review

Time runs out for the president on Oct. 19, but the clock starts ticking on a new world order. Dick Cheney, newly sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, updates the Patriot Act to all but eliminate remaining American liberties. A dangerous war of words erupts with Syria and other Arab nations, after a Syrian immigrant named Jamal Abu Zikri becomes the focus of assassination investigators. North Korea steps up its nuclear aggression, sensing opportunity in America's momentary distraction.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1157925009521&call_pageid=968867495754&col=969483191630

[Up2Late]

6. Did you notice how even the Toronto Star is trying to down play this...

...film with their headline? It took me a few seconds to figure out what "DOAP" meant.

DOAP terrifies with realism

Sep. 11, 2006
PETER HOWELL
MOVIE CRITIC

[demo dutch]

7. I hate the guy .. but this is wrong.

[BushOut06]

8. From what I've read, it's not so much about the assassination...

...as it is the culture of paranoia and xenophobia that exists in this country. The assassination merely serves as a backdrop. In the film, a Palestinian is quickly blamed for the crime, despite very flimsy evidence against him. I think it sounds like a very interesting premise, one that forces us to look at ourselves.

Of course, the repugs are going to have a heydey with this.

[Demeter]

9. I Wonder If It Will Show in Windsor?

I wouldn't be able to travel to Toronto, but Windsor is only an hour away....

[Up2Late]

18. I bet you'll get it at the U of Michigan...

...any town that has an annual "Hash Bash" (do they still have that?) is liberal enough to show this movie.

[Lautremont]

10. I think the idea behind the film is just fine.

Not because I want to see Il Dunce or anyone else shot - I'd rather no one at all was shot - but because it seems like an effective starting point for a film which purports to examine the state of liberty and freedom, and the erosion of same, in the United States. It's a Swiftian notion, but with fewer teeth: Swift-lite.

[Minstrel Boy]

11. People who can't see past the premise are missing its point

It's not an assassination fantasy. It looks to be a study in deep politics, of which assassination plays a part. (Note the reference to Costa-Gavras.)

From the review:

Time runs out for the president on Oct. 19, but the clock starts ticking on a new world order. Dick Cheney, newly sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, updates the Patriot Act to all but eliminate remaining American liberties. A dangerous war of words erupts with Syria and other Arab nations, after a Syrian immigrant named Jamal Abu Zikri becomes the focus of assassination investigators. North Korea steps up its nuclear aggression, sensing opportunity in America's momentary distraction.

There is evidence that Zikri, who worked in the building opposite the hotel and who may or may not be sympathetic to the Al-Qaeda terror group, had both opportunity and cause to kill Bush. But there is also evidence that other interests may have been involved, or wholly to blame.

Such doubts hardly matter to investigators, however, who are in a rush to find a scapegoat and to prosecute as quickly as possible. Blood lust must be satisfied.

On one level, Death of a President plays as an incredibly realistic political thriller or whodunit. It can be taken as simple entertainment, despite Range's stated intentions he's not out to amuse the idly curious or to sate the bloodthirsty.

The film's deeper intentions are far more urgent, and 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.

[NVMojo]

12. Good revenge for that bullshit ficitonal pathway crap!

[Benhurst]

13. It's ... a ...

MOVIE! What we call ... FICTION.

Get a life, America.

:boring:

[FightingIrish]

14. Does this sound familiar?

"The film is shot as if it were a conventional television documentary, even though the events it depicts never happened."

[Up2Late]

19. Exactly, and if we truly had a "Liberal Media" it would be on...

...Cable T.V. at least. I bet we're going to have to travel to Canada or Venezuela to see it.

I bet the Bush Corp doesn't even let the DVDs in the country.

[VegasWolf]

15. Why is it controversial? nt

[truthisfreedom]

16. if it got "polite applause" it probably wasn't a very good film. i have no

time for bad films.

[sadiesworld]

20. Sounds like a good excuse for conservatives to feel victimized

and rally 'round their man. The NWO part sounds interesting but I'm guessing that the movie won't address the TRUE culprits, e.g., the multi-nationals, the WTO, etc.

[Nihil]

21. Sounds good

Hope I remember to set the video up when it screens in the UK.

> Dick Cheney, newly sworn in as the 44th president of the United States,
> updates the Patriot Act to all but eliminate remaining American liberties.

This is the bit that should upset Americans, not the fictional shooting
of Bush. This is the bit that is only a few tactical moves away today.

[KidBlue]

22. It will be shown in the US

Newmarket bought distribution rights.