As I prepared to write my review, I became worried about how I should word it. Any combination of the words ‘death’, ‘Bush’, ’shot’ and ‘president’ just may set off some kind of FBI warning that I’m just not ready for. Wait…too late.

Death Of A President is pretty much self explanatory. Much like the movie JFK, D.O.A.P (as the bloggers call it) chronicles the October assignation of President George Bush….that never happened. This film isn’t quite a mockumentary and it’s definitely not an actual documentary. It’s a fictionalized documentary that uses real footage mixed with scripted interviews and a dash of movie magic to tell the story of the shooting that ended George Bush’s life. The film takes place in Chicago at a convention for the local area’s businessmen. President Bush is scheduled to make an appearance as a lead speaker to talk about the economy and maybe sell a few thousand-dollar diners while he’s there. His arrival his ruined by the demonstration of over ten thousand permitted protestors covering the streets surrounding his hotel where the convention is taking place. The crowd becomes more and more unruly, making major breaches in security never seen before by any Secret Service of any administration. An already nervous security finds a way for the President to make his speech and prepare for the meet & greet before entering his armored limo and back to Washington D.C. What they don’t know is that Bush won’t be making the trip.

I remember when D.O.A.P. was making the rounds in the film festival circuit and all I heard and read were how this movie was un-American. People were saying that anyone watching it or (gasp!) enjoying it should be deemed a disgrace and a coward or whatever. Apparently it’s only okay to make a movie about a presidential assassination if it actually happened. I call those minor details. The same way Republicans boycotted Fahrenheit 9/11 and the Catholics condemned The Da Vinci Code, ‘patriots’ of America wrote off D.O.A.P. before even knowing what it was about. If they had seen it, they’d have learned it’s not about the actual murder. The film is more about how easy it can be done and the difficulty of defending against it. Secondly, it shows the problems of actually capturing and convicting a suspect who has spent large amounts of time planning out their history making crime. Think of De Niro in Taxi Driver if he never met the child prostitute.

Death Of A President is a film that isn’t just for film buffs. If you hate President Bush, this movie’s for you. If you like him, this movie’s for you. It’s the same with protestors, policemen, and terrorists. If you have strong feelings either way about any of them, this movie’s for you. However, if you’re a Republican, maybe you should rent The Good Shepard.

Now I can count the minutes between the time I post this and the time the FBI knocks down my door.

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