Without directly confronting the behaviors and attitudes associated with its theory, the movie leaves us with uncertainty, vacillation, and worst of all, emptiness.
Comment
09/21/07
Death of a President (2006)
36 %
Reviews Counted: 94 Fresh: 34 Rotten:60 Average Rating: 5.3/10
Consensus:
In this unconvincing fictional documentary, the tense 30 minutes that lead into the title event is outweighed by the boring, melodramatic hour preceding it.
Runtime: 90 mins
Synopsis: Winner of the International Critics' Prize at the Toronto Film Festival, "DEATH OF A PRESIDENT" is conceived as a fictional TV documentary broadcast in 2008, reflecting on a monstrously despicable and cataclysmic event: the assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007. ... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: George W. Bush, Becky Ann Baker, Michael Reilly Burke, Hend Ayoub, Brian Boland
Director: Gabriel Range
Screenwriter: Simon Finch, Gabriel Range
Producer: Simon Finch, Ed Guiney, Gabrielle Range
Screenwriter: Simon Finch, Gabriel Range
Producer: Simon Finch, Ed Guiney, Gabrielle Range
Reviews
OK, so, it's got balls and technical skills, but is it anything more than a stunt? Yes, yes it is.
03/29/07
There is little of the fall of the Twin Towers trauma, but much of All the President's Men here. That this film's buzz has launched such vitriol and condemnation is not surprising. Range's film exposes wider audiences to some basic truths of our times.
03/27/07
Click to read the article
03/02/07
It's hard to imagine anyone without a political agenda who can walk away from this serious, sober and impeccably respectful film and get agitated about it on its merits.
03/01/07
As a piece of filmmaking, Death of a President is edgy and fresh, superbly realised and satisfying in its ambition to pass as a powerful documentary about an event that shook the world.
02/24/07
It’s not art, it’s not a serious discussion, it’s not a film based in irony or metaphor -- Death of a President is merely a marketing ploy that’s big on shock value and short on ideas.
12/30/06
So long as you think it's okay to depict a realistic-looking assassination of a sitting president via doctored news footage, then you're likely to enjoy this intriguing whodunit in which George Bush is blown away by one of his fed-up detractors.
12/29/06
"Death of a President" is generally a sobering film that not only dares to think the unthinkable, but encourages its audience, no matter what their political leans, to stop and think as well.
11/25/06
The movie does highlight the ways that news and commercial images shape public perception.
11/25/06
Click to read the article
11/11/06
Despite being heavy-handed and pretentious, and never providing a satisfying conclusion, Gabriel Range's fake-umentary "Death of a President" is nevertheless brilliant in its conception and execution.
11/06/06
Accomplished and visually persuasive, but the movie's central conceit remains something of a stunt...
11/06/06
It is indeed ironic that a film that is often so good at making one suspend their disbelief still can't generate a true emotional response in the end. Despite its shortcomings, Death of a President is an interesting and provocative work that merits
11/02/06
Click to read the article
11/02/06
[The director] has expertly interwoven real and simulated footage to make a film that looks convincing, but it amounts to little more than a clever editing exercise.
11/01/06
...for all the hype and gnashing of teeth, D.O.A.P. isn't a very interesting movie ... It means to shock us. All right, we're shocked.
11/01/06
What’s missing is shapeliness, suspense, narrative cunning, visual flair -- in short, art. Are we really to believe that a network of the future would broadcast such a barbiturate?
10/30/06
Related Forums
(2006)-DEATH OF A PRESIDENT gets a USA release on OCTOBER 27TH!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/6/07
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/6/07
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