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Movies / On DVD / Death of a President
Death of a President

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Death of a President (2006)

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Reviews Counted:98

Fresh:36

Rotten:62

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

Genre: Dramas

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... 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. The "documentary" combines archival footage and carefully composed interviews, presented in a respectful and dignified manner. It is exciting and questioning, and it offers viewers a riveting story, creating a provocative political thriller that reveals larger truths. But the film doesn't advocate violence; rather, it shows the pernicious effects of violence The film opens with ferocious energyas frenetically edited archival footage thrusts us into a raging crowd of protesters, waiting for President Bush's procession. The President is portrayed as a sympathetic and likable man-beloved by those close to him and charming to his followers. As the President gives a patriotic speech inside a hotel, the demonstrators' fury increases to the breaking point. The tension mounts until the horrible instant where the President is assassinated. After the assassination, the film shifts into the style of a mystery, and follows the FBI's hunt for the assassin. All the suspects are interviewed except one-the Syrian man who is convicted and put on death row. There is much circumstantial evidence against him. But is he guilty of the crime? Or does his Middle Eastern origin provide a convenient excuse to label the death of the President as an Act of Terror? Director Gabriel Range previously used the device of a "retrospective documentary" in his celebrated 2003 film "The Day Britain Stopped," about a chain of events that led to a breakdown of the country's transport system and nearly a hundred fatalities. Both of these films have been acclaimed for the technical virtuosity with which they combine archival footage and filmed scenes to create disturbingly real visions of catastrophes. --© Newmarket Films [More]

Starring: George W. Bush, Becky Ann Baker, Michael Reilly Burke, Hend Ayoub

Starring: George W. Bush, Becky Ann Baker, Michael Reilly Burke, Hend Ayoub, Brian Boland, Robert Mangiardi, Jay Patterson, James Urbaniak, Neko Parham, Seena Jon, Christian Stolte, Tony Dale

Director: Gabriel Range

Director: Gabriel Range
Screenwriter: Simon Finch, Gabriel Range
Producer: Simon Finch, Ed Guiney, Gabrielle Range
Studio: Newmarket Films

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Reviews for Death of a President

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Easily the year's most useless picture

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/28/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Despite the audacious title and premise, Range doesn't aim to shock, but to unnerve

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
07/02/09
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

Beyond the feigned controversy stirred up by neocon zealots, "Death of a President" is nothing more than a high concept political hypothesis film that signals the futility of presidential assassination.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/24/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

It is at least slick with technique -- or with a synthesis of techniques.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jonathan Kiefer
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review

Without directly confronting the behaviors and attitudes associated with its theory, the movie leaves us with uncertainty, vacillation, and worst of all, emptiness.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
09/21/07
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

...even the extras are unconvincing...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
06/04/07
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

OK, so, it's got balls and technical skills, but is it anything more than a stunt? Yes, yes it is.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
03/29/07
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
rec.arts.movies.reviews

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.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
03/27/07
Les Wright
Les Wright
culturevulture.net

Bush weepie takes all sides and none.

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
03/21/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
03/02/07
Sydney Morning Herald

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.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Film Journal International

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.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
02/24/07
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

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.

Full Review Source: Zertinet Movies | comment Comment
12/30/06
Steven Snyder
Steven Snyder
Zertinet Movies

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.

Full Review Source: EURWeb | comment Comment
12/29/06
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
EURWeb

"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.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
11/25/06
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

The movie does highlight the ways that news and commercial images shape public perception.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
11/25/06
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

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.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
11/06/06
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

Accomplished and visually persuasive, but the movie's central conceit remains something of a stunt...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
11/06/06
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

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

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
11/02/06
Stax
Stax
IGN Movies
 
 
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