Death of a President

Plot synopsis:
Broadcast in the year 2008, the film is presented in a TV documentary style format, combining talking head interviews, news coverage clips and video surveillance footage surrounding the assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush in Chicago around a year earlier on 19 October 2007. The president is fatally shot by a sniper after he addresses an economic forum at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel, before which an anti-war rally had taken place. News outlets immediately begin reporting on the incident along with its political ramifications. After authorities earlier arrest and interrogate war-protesting detainees, Jamal Abu Zikri (Malik Bader), an IT professional of Syrian origin, becomes the prime suspect.
Vice President Dick Cheney, now president, uses the possible al-Qaeda relationship in connection with the suspected assassin, Zikri, to push his own domestic political security agenda. He calls for the legislation of PATRIOT Act III, trying to increase the investigative powers of the FBI, the police, and other government agencies over U.S. citizens and resident aliens as he contemplates attacking Syria.
As his wife Zahra (Hend Ayoub) listens to the verdict with family attorney Dawn Norton (Patricia Buckley) in a packed courtroom, Zikri is convicted of killing the U.S. President and sentenced to death based upon dubious forensic evidence. Meanwhile, a new report which surfaces, substantiated by interviews with Marianne Claybon (Chavez Ravine), indicates that the perpetrator is most likely her husband Al Claybon (Tony Dale), a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, who lived in Rock Island, Illinois, and who also was the father of David Claybon, a U.S. soldier recently killed in the Iraq War. 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 (Neko Parham), an Iraq War veteran living in Chicago who was previously considered as a suspect, reads:
Ten months after President Bush's assassination, Zikri remains on death row at the 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. The most incriminating piece of 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 closing titles of the film inform the viewer that President Cheney's USA PATRIOT Act III was signed into permanent law in the U.S., stating the following: "It has granted investigators unprecedented powers of detention and surveillance, and further expanded the powers of the executive branch".

Tags: anti war, revenge, alternate reality, murder, violence

Review:
A lot of these reviews seem to be by either US Americans who have yet to see this film, and are so insecure about their patriotism they have to come on to IMDb and slate it, or seemingly by people who made up their mind before watching it and refuse to change their stance after doing so.The point of the film is NOT some perverse fantasy about killing the current President of the United States of America, George Walker Bush Jr. People who say otherwise either haven't seen it or are wanting to purposely misguide you.It is a drama in the style of a documentary (one that would air on television rather then a cinema screen) that looks at a possible run up to an assassination of the president, as well as how the investigation might be handled afterwards with the involvement of Dick Cheney (who would take over the Presidency if George Bush was assassinated).The drama does not dwell or linger on the death of the president at all, in fact apart from Bush being crammed into his presidential car by secret service and whizzed away at high speed, that is all the viewer sees.
Hardly a sordid gratification from a 'perverse' director.The drama is convincing as a documentary by realistic interviews with decent unknown actors playing their roles just right without hyperbole as could quite easily be the case.Without spoiling exact plot points, the drama makes a point in how the government may be more interested in finding a suspect and making the evidence fit the profile because it is more politically advantageous then actually running an investigation to find out exactly what happened, and draw suspects that way.
Bush in a Chicago hotel.That future time is portrayed with an escalation of the anti-war fervor and a growing concern over the dangers posed by North Korea.The film flips between staged scenes, real footage & documentary style interviews.
The actors, who range from a close assistant to the President and First Lady to a spouse who may never see their innocent partner again, are all excellently cast.Contrary to popular belief, Death of a President does not advocate the killing of a leader; instead it takes a credible look at America and the possible events following such an occurrence.Trust me - this one you don't want to miss..
Death Of A President is an excellent film and is in no way anti-American or Anti-George Bush.
With the fictional scenario of Death of a President, though, we know exactly how things play out.Whether you are a President, an assassin, an FBI agent, or just a movie-goer, realizing that actions have consequences - often unforeseen consequences, of course - is something we all need to be reminded of from time to time..
Title and premise of "Death of a President" led me, and probably others, to expect either a shallow Bush-bashing hack-job or some sort of bizarre, "24"-like "we against the evildoers" hero-epic in a cheap documentary costume.I'm happy to report: I was wrong.
How can it be anything but controversial when it concerns a speculation about a future crime - and the crime concerns the person who is likely to be one of most controversial US presidents this century.But given the administration and its leader have been quite overt in courting controversy and have often appeared to care little for opinion outside their electoral and other power bases in the USA it can count for little that suddenly some creative team somewhere outside the USA provokes discomfort in the heartland of that political grouping.This film can be regarded as both as a straight ahead thriller but also as a device to explore your own attitudes and those of others to certain key political issues.
With bag checks and guys with night vision scanning the audience for the entire screening looking for pirates (argh!), it felt like I was seeing the Prez himself.Gabriel Range's mockumentary that is set 3 years after the assassination of President George Bush.
The music was awful Hollywood nonsense.A much better film that explores the purpose and consequences of violent political action in a human way is the The Weather Underground, and that documentary is real.Last year in Chicago a man burned himself in view of one of the freeways during the day as political protest.
The Best Mockumentary You Will Never See. There is nothing more predictable than first response to this sentence: "Gabriel Range's new film, 'Death of a President,' is about the assassination of George W.
Bush, the President of the United States, and the assassination in question is his very own.Unfortunately people will probably stay away from this movie imagining some cruel and insulting vengeance "wetdream", see Bush get shot, payback time etc.
Bush, nor does it propose or encourage that such action, as depicted in the movie, should be undertaken.Quite to the contrary, the movie goes out of its way to present the story from multiple points of view, with characters that cover a range of opinions, feelings, ideas, beliefs and so on.This film asks some pointed and poignant questions as to why would such an event take place, what would drive someone to get to the point of going through with such an ultimate act.
It does not smack of treason, or gross indecency or any other morally infused controversy to ask questions of our leaders, to hold them responsible for their actions, policies, ideas and any other factors that make up their leadership.After all George Walker Bush, as all Presidents before him, has ONE boss that is above him, that is THE American PEOPLE, all 300 million of them, not only those that agree with him and voted for him.Take that for whatever you think it is worth, see this movie and decide for yourself what its relevance is, don't let others do that for you, your voice and opinion is just as important!.
The first half of the movie is told entirely (except for the opening interview, which foreshadows the later turn that the film will take) from the points of view of those close to President George W.
No, we don't like Bush, but seeing his assassination foreshadowed in a movie is eerie, uncomfortable, and disconcerting, and I believe we reserve the right to express that without being labeled as blind, patriotic, "typical Americans".
The most effective message is how politics warps the American justice system.I recommend this film to anyone who likes political thrillers, speculative explorations, or movies dealing with the Presidency.
What it IS about is: Big Brother, the Patriot Act, loss of civil liberties, racial profiling, corrupt and hidden political agendas, etc.But what is fantastic is that ALL of this important information is presented in a highly entertaining film with excellent production values, great editing and truly believable roles.Should be seen in every Civics class in this country.
This one wasn't.The movie had a great premise, but that's only when you look at the film as a hypothetical lesson: For some people (probably really extreme and equally disillusioned liberals), killing President Bush may seem like a good idea given his presidency is officially the most controversial in U.S. History.
The movie seemed to imply that should President Bush be killed by an assassin's bullet, no one except Dick Cheney and other Republicans would care about his death.
All the participants are - including the assassin.The movie uses a tragic event like the President as a way to demonstrate how polarized and biased in objective investigation and reporting would be.
And no, it is not as some have it a 'how to manual' on killing the president but rather a treatise on how a police-state (a la escalating powers given under various Patriot Acts)can arrest, charge, fix the evidence and convict an innocent man of assassination and use this as a scapegoat to attack yet another sovereign nation.Completely chilling and thought provoking as to giving those in government absolute jurisdiction over the laws of the land, habeas corpus - extinct, fair trial - extinct, free press - extinct.
We can't argue over issues such as 'truth' since it deals in purely fictitious scenarios; in this case, the assassination of President Bush and its aftermath, or rather simply on who did it.That it sides with a right-thinking, open-minded liberal 'Left' is admirable and that it is very well made of its kind is to be applauded, but as someone who sympathizes with its political point-of-view I was somewhat disappointed by the sheer bland matter-of-factness of its arguments.
So the film is a laboratory itself in image altering with profound implications.More than the authenticity of washed out images that complement the security camera images agents scour to find suspects, Death of a President ends up a subtle screed against versions of the Patriot Act that in the future may seriously compromise the rights of innocent internationals who are caught in investigations with political agendas far outweighing the justice our constitution seemed to promise to those who come ashore.
Of course, the subtext could be that none of these injustices would have happened if W had not been president, but the film takes the high road to show a generic scenario given the circumstance leading to such a tragedy a year from now.An Arabic-speaking woman opens the film with the question about the assassin, "Why didn't he think about the consequences of his actions?" That's what Death of a President is about: the effects of acts such as violations of a president and a constitution..
The movie makers are not being just anti-Bush in the most obvious way, they construct a very plausible outcome of such an act.The actors, mostly Americans are extremely believable and add an eerie touch of authenticity to this grim proceedings.This whole thing is probably in a very poor taste, but claiming to lead the Free world opens us up for all kinds of speculations.
I heard of the movie last year and was of course quite curious about it and while on vacation in June in SanFrancisco found it in a video store and when I came back to purchase it the next day it was already gone.And after searching in my neighborhood for it was able to find it and was able to get a copy of it and watched it today.And it was excellent because it looked so real that it was hard to believe that none of it was true.And the way the real footage of President Bush and VicePresident Cheney was put in the story made it all more believable.
The style of the film is terrible; from obviously photo shopped images of interviewed actors appearing with the President, to lame mock-ups of anti-Bush protests, the movie consistently comes across as childish and amateur.
Using real Bush footage and not making the movie based on a fictional character is just stupid and also inviting if not inciting assassination as a glorified and approved method of action.
You know, I thought I had seen it all--San Franciscans protesting going into Afghanistan after witnessing the devastation of the 9/11 attacks, the daily drum-beat of every metropolitan newspaper blaming the US for all the world's atrocities (led by the fanatical liberals at the NYT), the Cindy Sheehans of the world blaming our president for war crimes, and on, and on, and on-- but I will never understand the likes of people that claim they "love this country," "support the troops," and believe in national security, meanwhile stabbing our leaders in the back every chance they get with the daily gratuitous, ad hominem attacks and movies like Death of a President.
Again, it's a wonderful way to argue historical turning points.This film utilizes the death of President Bush as a means to rehash old arguments and nothing more.
Maybe after the presumed question was asked, Range and Finch discussed how news outlets would report it, how certain hot button issues, like civil liberties and racial profiling, would be affected, and how life as we know it in the United States of America would change.Death of a President is an intriguing motion picture, and if you get caught up or offended by the assassination of George W.
Following the assassination, Jamal Abu Zikri (Malik Bader), an Syrian man who works as an IT professional, becomes the prime suspect in a costly and widespread investigation as to the motives and the events leading up to the assassination.Range expertly paces the film from the get-go, establishing the "who, what, where, when, and how's" of the environment Bush was in and takes its time to build up suspense, despite this being a documentary.
The intriguing part about this mockumentary is that, obviously, if this happened, many would know the story and know the details surrounding the assassination; however, being that this is fictional, we are essentially watching a monumental event unfold a year after it has happened, which makes us feel like we were frozen in time and are being told how all this occurred and how we are now effected by such a ghastly event.Range and Finch then use news clips to address how the nation reacts to the death of George W.
Following the assassination, the US Patriot Act III is signed into law, a continuation of the controversial US Patriot Act, which permitted the wiretapping of US citizens' phone calls, which heightened such wiretapping practices and grants the United States Government national detention of its citizens in an effort to control the population.Such events portrayed in Death of a President are that of incredibly taunt and frightening science-fiction, and only more frightening is the fact they are executed in such a believable manner.
Death of a President is a terrific mockumentary, thoughtful and engaging, as it details a fictional event in a way that almost makes you believe something like this happened or could very well occur.
This is a movie shot in a documentary-format telling the fictional assassination of the president George W.
The story of the movie is essentially how the investigation of the death of a president led to evidence being forced to fit like a square peg in a round hole, just so that the accused, who fit the preconceived notions of what an assassin would be, would be convicted.As has been said numerous times already, the subject of Bush's death is not gloated over or glorified - it is really hardly touched on.
I was a little bit disappointed of the way creators decided to handle this movie - for me the American way of presenting documentary by listening to endless list of boring people is one of the worst ways there could be - but what was the major disappointment is that the story told was really flat.I know that it's hard to compete with such masterpieces like "JFK" or "I comme Icare" and this wasn't the goal for creators, but what was the point of use president assassination as a base for the point they were heading??
Really it's like creating a movie similar to "Godfather" just to point out that alcohol is bad for your health.For me "Death of a president" is major disappointment because creators simply wasted a good opportunity to tell their story in interesting way - instead of involving plot we get bunch of people with their memories that doesn't even look like they care about whet they are saying.
If we need to put it in a category it would belong into political fiction - the story of a political crime that luckily was never committed, but takes inspiration from the political killings in American and world history of the 20th century, from the assassination of president Kennedy and up to Yitzhak Rabin.As a political fiction movie the film is quite well made, with credible shots that make it look like a TV documentary made a few years after the crime.
Years later, a documentary crew interview those in the know about that fateful day and try to root out who the real assassin was.Most rulers have had their fair share of controversy but George Bush is one who's probably choked up more hate from certain people than any before him.
The most interesting fact is that the film doesn't take a political stance (neither left nor right) but simply explores what might happen if President Bush were assassinated.
In ways it echoes the JFK assassination, an event that still is under scrutiny as to why it happened and who was ultimately responsible.Using actual footage of President Bush at an Economic conference in Chicago along with reporters and actors who supply the drama, the film 'shows' the assassination and the aftermath with the subsequent frightening state of Cheney as President.
What we have here is a well made and thought provoking piece of what might happen, in today's society and with public feeling the way it is, if President Bush was assassinated.In fact, what director Gabriel Range manages to pull off very well, in my opinion, is actually managing to show as little of the actual "event" as possible.
its just a story about the build up and aftermath of a fictional assassination of President Bush, the actual assassination its self only takes up 5% of the movie.Its a very well done film and the assassination itself looks very realistic.This film is more about the American system and the way it acts against situations like an assassination (be that a President or something as horrid as 9/11).Americans...
That said, I do not particularly want to see him assassinated, and living in the UK, it is not really my problem - it is up to the American people.With this in mind, there was no way I was going to miss the movie, and when More4 screened it in the UK, I set the record button.This is an excellent film, not because it kills Bush - which would just be gratuitous and not worth watching - but of the way it looks at how the US responds.