Beautiful Cynicism III

That is the simple question this movie seeks to answer. Death of a President opened in theatres in North America last night – theoretically, anyway. Nearly all American movie theatre chains refused to carry it (only one, Landmark, with a mere 50 theatres in 15 states, is showing it on their screens), making the film essentially inaccessible to most Americans. The film did, however, open to wide release across Canada.

While any movie should be judged on several fronts – the main being style vs. content – the boundaries between those levels were quite distinct here. At first blush it seemed as though my boyfriend’s and my evaluations of the film were completely at odds – he didn’t like it, I did. But further discussion revealed we had each been viewing the film through different lenses (pardon the pun); in the end there wasn’t too much disagreement. Stylistically the movie is compelling, with the near-seamless cutting and splicing of real and imagined news footage. The impact of this effect should not be underestimated – seeing George Bush’s full state funeral with Dick Cheney giving the eulogy, for example, is impressive stuff. But my boyfriend felt some of the acting was over-the-top, and I felt the movie lagged a bit around the 1-hour mark. The second half did have a more plodding quality to it, which isn’t great for a film, but isn’t out of place in the television news-style documentary, which is, after all, the look this film was aiming for.

Content was another matter. While some may see the latter half as facile, as focusing only on the usual suspects, I think that’s the point – I could easily imagine the events in the latter half of the film unfolding in just such a way in real life. The mourning of a nation, the panic of intelligence agencies and politicians, the crackdown on protest organisations and minority groups, the passage of even more restrictive and Draconian laws that give police and other government agents unheard-of power… One can easily see this happening, what with the trajectory on which this administration has been for some time. Much of the events in this film, though fictional, are frighteningly believable.

Perhaps the most telling statement is the furor this film has caused in the States. Many have rushed to judgment, as people are wont to do, and decried the film without having seen it. This is not an anti-Bush movie. It in no way advocates for the murder of the President. It is utterly non-partisan. People have argued the director could have used a fictitious president, but the message would not have been the same. Perhaps some anger is due to the fact that the President was assassinated – rather than succumb to a heart attack, or choke on a piece of popcorn. (Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. ) This is a film that explores what might happen to one of the most powerful countries in the world, should something terrible happen to it today, right now, with its current political players in the current domestic and international climate. While actors obviously were used in many parts, the main characters were all there: Bush, Cheney, Condoleeza, GOP operatives, the mayor of Chicago… I personally think it was a brave (and somewhat audacious) act.

Despite all the accusations and controversy, the film opened quietly and to mixed reviews here in Canada. A handful of Ontario theatres ran adverts in newspapers of American border towns, inviting Americans to come to Canada, to see this film they were not being allowed to see in their own country. Meanwhile, in the theatre where my boyfriend and I saw the film last night, there were only a few dozen people watching along with us.