One of the hot ticket screenings at this year's fest, DEATH OF A PRESIDENT (commonly abbreviated as D.O.A.P. as if to be politically correct) is a recollection of the assassination of George W. Bush on October 19, 2007 and the subsequent manhunt for his killer. Constructed from archive footage of Bush's fateful trip to Chicago and countless talking head interviews, this tale of Bush's demise (and the wrongful conviction of Syrian-American Jamal Abu Zikri) doesn't shed any light on Zikri's kangaroo trial and the real guilt of Al Claybon. This material was handled better in Michael Moore's UNDISCLOSED PRESIDENT about President Cheney's rise to power and the passing of "Patriot 3." Thankfully, filmmaker Gabriel Range leaves out Jeane Dixon's daughter who seems to be making a living recalling her dubious prediction of President Bush's death.
In all seriousness, Gabriel Range's mockumentary was produced for the BBC but feels much more like an A&E special. All of the conventions of a television documentary are followed to the letter. Range does a skillful job using pre-existing footage as "archive." The line between fact and fiction are blurred rather well though some flaws risk jettisoning viewers from the conceit. These include some poor computer-generated additions of Bush's faux speech writer into background shots and a horrible audio/visual edit of Dick Cheney eulogizing George W. Bush rather than Ronald Reagan. If there was ever a moment perfect for a cutaway to hide an awkward mouth match, that was it.
Utilizing a cast that could very well have been on any one of tonight's ten repeats of the various "Law & Order" franchise shows, Range does a fair job using "generic" actors though forensic expert James Pearn did too good of a job as I recognized him immediately. Missing from the proceedings (along with the aforementioned requisite psychic scene) are the shots celebrating Bush's death in whatever axis of evil country needs demonizing the most at the moment. Even more than convicting Zikri, we also should have had an immediate response that the shooter was a suspected Al Quaeda terrorist even before anyone was in custody (recalling the Oklahoma City bomber reported to be an Arab well before Timothy McVeigh was apprehended). There are other shadings that could have boosted the film's verisimilitude to make DEATH OF A PRESIDENT a more polished film. As it is, the film works as a cinematic experiment and an act of wish fulfillment, though is a President Cheney and better than a President Bush?
In all seriousness, Gabriel Range's mockumentary was produced for the BBC but feels much more like an A&E special. All of the conventions of a television documentary are followed to the letter. Range does a skillful job using pre-existing footage as "archive." The line between fact and fiction are blurred rather well though some flaws risk jettisoning viewers from the conceit. These include some poor computer-generated additions of Bush's faux speech writer into background shots and a horrible audio/visual edit of Dick Cheney eulogizing George W. Bush rather than Ronald Reagan. If there was ever a moment perfect for a cutaway to hide an awkward mouth match, that was it.
Utilizing a cast that could very well have been on any one of tonight's ten repeats of the various "Law & Order" franchise shows, Range does a fair job using "generic" actors though forensic expert James Pearn did too good of a job as I recognized him immediately. Missing from the proceedings (along with the aforementioned requisite psychic scene) are the shots celebrating Bush's death in whatever axis of evil country needs demonizing the most at the moment. Even more than convicting Zikri, we also should have had an immediate response that the shooter was a suspected Al Quaeda terrorist even before anyone was in custody (recalling the Oklahoma City bomber reported to be an Arab well before Timothy McVeigh was apprehended). There are other shadings that could have boosted the film's verisimilitude to make DEATH OF A PRESIDENT a more polished film. As it is, the film works as a cinematic experiment and an act of wish fulfillment, though is a President Cheney and better than a President Bush?