Death of a President

Death of a President is a fictional documentary, but it's so well shot using archival footage and gritty documentary style that immediately you forget it's not real. It was directed by British director Gabriel Range and was released in the US in October 2006. I've seen faux documentaries before, but never one that had the sense of reality that this one had. Wishful thinking perhaps? The film has an appropriate level of seriousness, and no pointed political agenda.

What critics refer to as criticism of the current administration's policies is handled deftly and isn't so much criticism as it is a factual accounting. Speaking plainly, the truth hurts, and if holding up the current administration's underhanded practices and relentless pursuit of its own agenda seems despicable when held up to the light, that's not the fault of the person who shines the light but the fault of the people who create the policies.

The faux documentary covers the events immediately before, during and after the fictional assassination of President George Bush at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Chicago. For me, that made it even more personal feeling since the night before I watched the film I had been downtown, in the streets around the Sheraton. The film focuses intently on anti-Iraq war protests that lead up to the assassination and I recognized many friends and acquaintances from around Chicago in those scenes.

Skillfully building tension until the actual assassination the writers lay out several possible suspects in advance and the film follows the CIA and Secret Service as they struggle afterward to figure out who shot the President and how they managed to get past security. From a typical lineup of suspects including the outspoken political activist and organizer, an African American who had done a tour of duty in Iraq and was struggling to readjust to life in the US, and a Syrian immigrant.

While they tried to make a case against each, one of the CIA officials recounted to the camera how he received a personal call from "President Cheney" and was told to find a connection between the shooter and Al Qaeda. Specifically, he was told to find a connection to Syria because the administration had wanted to find a reason to go after Syria for awhile. So the Syrian immigrant was targeted as the assassin. Dubious photos suddenly surfaced of the Syrian immigrant at an Al Qaeda training camp, a great deal was made of his shooting skills learned in compulsory Syrian military service. Despite having no physical evidence to tie him to the shooting a case is made, he is indicted and put on trial. Naturally, he is convicted.

After the conviction, it becomes clear that the African American soldier who is having trouble adjusting to life back in the US has a connection to the shooting. His father, a decorated Gulf War vet and career military man, is found in his car after committing suicide. His suicide note indicates that he shot President Bush in Chicago because he held Bush responsible for the death of his youngest son in Iraq. Later on , amongst his father's papers, the man finds a detailed report accounting for every minute of Bush's time in Chicago. No one could tell how he got the report, it was only released to Secret Service personnel, but it was assumed that was what he used to set up the shooting. He takes all the information he can find, along with his own suspicions, to the authorities, who refuse to hear any of it. Ten months after he comes forward the Syrian immigrant still sits in prison because it's politically expedient for the powers that be to have him there.

Meanwhile, "President" Cheney uses the built up Al Qaeda connection to pass Patriot III, an even more extreme version of the Patriot Act, into law. The government then has the power to conduct covert and extensive surveillance on anyone it chooses. During the course of the film the Bush/Cheney administration leads the country into a true Big Brother political situation where the administration has absolute control, and no disagreement is tolerated. Terror attacks have worsened, and the whole world is tense.

Immediately after the films release there was a firestorm of controversy surrounding it because of the subject matter. It's worth nothing that Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said about the film "I think it's despicable, I've never seen a movie so horrible in my life. I think it's absolutely outrageous I mean sure most people don't like Bush but this is beyond bad. It's evil. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick." even though she never saw the film. The two biggest cinema chains in the US, Regal and Cinemark, refused to show the film and CNN and NPR would not run ads for it.