Death Of A
President (2006)
(aka D.O.A.P.)
mockumentary
directed
by : Gabriel Range
featuring
: Hend Ayoub - Brian Boland - Becky Ann Baker - Robert Mangiardi - Jay
Patterson
running
time : 1 hour 33 minutes
The assassination of the most powerful leader
in the free world is examined in this controversial mockumentary from British
filmmaker Gabriel Range. On October 19, 2007, president George W.Bush is
visiting Chicago when he impulsively stops to shake hands with supporters
en route to a meeting, while a throng of protesters demonstrate nearby.
Shots ring out, and Bush is fatally wounded. As America and its allies
deal with the tragic loss of their leader, vice president Dick Cheney is
sworn in as the new chief executive, and while he takes the reigns of the
nation and pushes new and aggressive anti-terrorism legislation through
Congress, the Federal Bureau of Investigation steps into action to track
down the gunman. As Secret Service agents and law enforcement officers
share their thoughts on how the murder of the president could have been
avoided, and people around the globe discuss how Bush's death has tipped
the delicate balance of relations between the United States and the Middle
East, a Syrian Muslim activist living in Chicago, Jamal Abu Zikri (Malik
Bader), is charged with the murder of the president. While no "smoking
gun" connects Zikri to the crime, a wealth of circumstantial evidence points
to him as the gunman, and he's tried, found guilty, and executed in short
order. However, lingering questions persist as some wonder if the F.B.I.
found the right man with the right motives. Created using a combination
of newsreel footage, computer-generated images, and newly staged material,
Death Of A President (aka D.O.A.P) received the International Critics Prize
at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, despite negative reaction from many
American political commentators, many of whom were deeply offended by the
film's depiction of the assassination of Bush, the sitting U.S. president
at the time of the picture's production and release.