Review of Death of a President (2006) by Max W — 28 Jun 2007

I had heard all about this recent mockumentary, filmed a few years in the future, that looks back on the assassination of our current president in October of this year. I was fascinated by the fact that we live in a society whose conditions would drive artists to create a fictional death fantasy of the leader of the free world, and then when more research concluded that this film wouldn't see wide distribution I supposed it was because, well, who wants to watch that?

I'll tell you, what I expected in this case was a diatribe on why Bush deserved it, but amazingly it was not really about Bush at all. He was merely the plot point around which bigger, more pressing issues than the perpetually bottom-of-the-barrel approval ratings revolve. It deals much more with racial profiling, with our fear as Americans of hot-button words like "terrorism" and "al-Qaeda," and most importantly, with our hunger for vengeance.

I don't want to spoil too much of the movie, because I think it should be seen. But it's not exactly an upper. I could see this one studied in classrooms in the future.