Death of a President
Thu 13 March 2008
Jacqueline Smith, Journalism
Death of a President is a docudrama that fictionalises the assassination of US President George W Bush, presenting it in the style of a documentary.
Various filmic devices are used to reinforce the authenticity of the subject matter, such as a mix of real and fake news footage and staged witness interviews. Some genuine news articles have also been digitally enhanced to include the film’s actors.
The film-makers employ various techniques to strengthen the film’s appearance of reality. They use hand held cameras to imitate news footage, while images recorded on a mobile phone further emphasise the notion of ‘real’ through the depiction of the diversity of today’s news coverage.
The opening credits support the legitimacy of the film’s supposition by appearing unobtrusively in small, plain print with no mention of any actors’ names.
The film includes interviews with officers of the Presidential Protection Agency, presidential advisors, police and FBI representatives, medical staff, protestors, foreign affairs experts and witnesses to the assassination. Each interview is conducted with the camera taking the perspective of the audience which helps to instil a sense of familiarity, sympathy or disdain towards the interviewee.
The film is a warning against jumping to conclusions and rushing to judgement. Bad intelligence, hidden agendas and the ‘sexing-up’ of reports are political issues that many people are familiar with. This film explores these issues in a direct and open way that cannot be attained in a real world scenario.
I found the film to be believable as a documentary style drama for the first 27 minutes, until I recognised an actor, but it did not dramatically diminish the effectiveness of the film. The second half of the film is a little slow but in general the film is a fascinating exercise in ‘what if...’ and the consequences of not thinking past anger, promoting stereotypical prejudices and giving in to knee jerk reactions.
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