Death of a President (2006)

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 majority of the actors in the film were not told the premise of the movie. The working title for the film was "D.O.A.P.," and the actors were not told what the plot was, except for their specific scenes.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: On the Michigan Drivers License, the address is listed on S. Ellis St. in Dearborn, MI. However, Ellis St. does not have a direction, and also runs East to West, not North to South.

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.

Eerie, realistic and a reminder of what the USA now looks like from abroad

"Death of a President" was screened last night (20 October 2006) on Britain's CHANNEL 4, which is seen widely in Ireland also. It is really quite strange, being entirely like a real documentary but with acted interviews. The integration of real archive footage of Bush and Cheney with digitally manipulated images of the pair, to create various moments in a false present, is eerie. Cheney even gives a funeral oration for Bush at one point. Overall, the film seemed a bit too long but, if nothing else, makes one worry about Cheney as president! It also serves to make one realise how much is possible with digital manipulation of images. It is realistic. Not a great movie but an interesting one.

For this particular European, who has visited most of the US States at one time or another and who has many American friends, the film was another reminder of how worrying the United States has become. Still a great nation but hard to think of it as "Leader of the Free World" now that it allows cruel and degrading treatment of enemy suspects and indefinite imprisonment without a fair trial. Perhaps US viewers will find this movie in bad taste, but they should find some of the policies and actions of their current government a lot more distasteful.