Death of a President (2006)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Gabriel Range

Writers:

Simon Finch (writer)
Gabriel Range (writer)

Release Date:

21 December 2006 (South Korea)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Do not rush to judge.

Plot:

Years after the assassination of President George W. Bush in Chicago, an investigative documentary examines that as-yet-unsolved crime. |

Plot Keywords:

Assassination | Gulf War Veteran | Wrongful Conviction | Shot In The Chest | Anarchism

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Hend Ayoub	...	Zahra Abi Zikri
Becky Ann Baker	...	Eleanor Drake
Brian Boland	...	Larry Stafford
Michael Reilly Burke	...	Robert H. Maguire
Patricia Buckley	...	Dawn Newton
Seena Jon	...	Samir Masri
Robert Mangiardi	...	Greg Turner
Neko Parham	...	Casey Claybon (as M. Neko Parham)
Jay Patterson	...	Sam McCarthy
Chavez Ravine	...	Marianne Claybon
Christian Stolte	...	John Rucinski
James Urbaniak	...	Dr. James Pearn
Jay Whittaker	...	Frank Molini
Patrick Clear	...	Adam Brock
David Girolmo	...	Spokesman

Also Known As:

D.O.A.P. (Canada: English title) (festival title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brief violent images.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | UK:12 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-11 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:12 | Japan:PG-12 | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Borough Films

Trivia:

The rifle used by the murderer was actually an airsoft replica (G&G SR25) of a AR15.

Goofs:

Factual errors: A news reporter says the aircraft carrier Nimitz is being sent back to the Mediterranean Sea. The file footage they show is of the aircraft carrier Enterprise.

Quotes:

[end title cards]
Title card: One year after his conviction, Jamal Abu Zikri has still not been granted leave to appeal.
Title card: He remains on death row in Statevill Correctional Center.
Title card: Since recording the interview for this film Robert H Maguire has resigned as Head of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.
Title card: USA PATRIOT III, introduced in the days after the assassination, has since been turned into permanent law.
Title card: It has granted investigators unprecedented powers of detention and surveillance, and further expanded the powers of the executive branch.

Well acted, feasible look at the aftermath of a presidential assassination

It,s not perfect, but then this genre of movie is very difficult to perfect.

The documentary style was very well done, and very convincing. I would even say that the acting looked so real, it would not surprise me if there was indeed no script, but just general guidelines on what each character would/should say. obviously i knew that this was not a real documentary, but it did have me wonder if each of the "experts" called forward to give their side of the story had in fact worked in their characters capacity at some point in the past as the parts were done so well.

I was less impressed with the final 20 minutes or so, and found the eventual conclusion to be flimsy, and overtly thought provoking... as if they decided to try and give a twist that was unexpected just for the sake of it.

Apart from a few minor plot issues like this, i really did think that this was a very convincing look at how a post assassination investigation and aftermath may look like. It is neither negative towards Bush or his standpoints. It in fact shows him to be in a very positive light whilst showing the anger and frustration of others at his actions towards Iraq and conflict in general.

In all, Death of a President was a very entertaining mockumentary and deserves to be seen. It does not incite violence, nor does it glorify war or Bush, it is more or less just a simple look at what would happen IF this were to really happen.