Never has the question “does life imitate art?” ever been more relevant…
On eve of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, ed clinic 2001, online terrorist attacks, the Toronto Film Festival will debut a British movie depicting the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush.
Mixing real archive footage and computer generated imagery, “Death of a President” shows President Bush being gunned down by a Syrian sniper during a Chicago anti-war protest in October 2007. When word of the provocative plot hit the blogosphere Thursday, it sparked outrage, particularly among conservatives.
“Sicko” is how radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh described director Gabriel Range.
Congressman Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called the movie “absolutely disgraceful.” Neither man has seen the flick, but both fear life could imitate art. [abc news]
Leaving a hotel in Chicago after speaking to a meeting of business leaders, President Bush is confronted by anti-war demonstrators and in the confusion is gunned down by a sniper.
The resulting hysteria is inflamed when it emerges that the chief suspect, Jamal Abu Zikri, was born in Syria.
Although the killing is invented, it has echoes of previous attacks on US leaders. Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was shot dead by a Palestinian, while Ronald Reagan was also attacked as he left a hotel…
A White House spokesman said the programme “does not dignify a response”, while Right-wing bloggers in America called it “a waste of celluloid”, “pure, blind hatred” and “completely sick and outrageous”. [Telegraph]
I called to get tickets but as predicted: all sold out. All the best. I suppose anyone watching the movie will probably earn themselves an FBI file.
lol this is hilarious, I wish however that he could die naturally long before October 2007.
I wonder what the response would be if Bill Clinton was victim
love your blog. hope to collect more Piaster’s
Richard at views from right
i wonder if the film will open in the u.s. it is illegal to threaten the life of the president here. i wouldn’t be surprised if alberto gonzalez’s justice department interprets that law to mean that a film about a future assassination counts as a “threat.”
i’m also curious to see if the film is any good. i mean, just because it has a provocative premise doesn’t mean they pull it off well. there was a film last year that was a fake documentary telling the story of what happened after the south won the american civil war. i thought it was a really interesting idea for a film, but the movie really sucked. a lot of good plot ideas end up as lackluster films.
Naseem I have just tagged you. Take a look at
http://batir.jeeran.com/arabic/archive/2006/9/90580.html
Batir, thanks man, although im not the taggy kinda person 😀
I wish however that he could die naturally long before October 2007.
I don’t want the man to die, and I’m sure he’s a great guy to watch the game with. But he is supremely unqualified to be President of the United States, so I’m afraid we’re stuck with him for two more years.
Fortunately it looks like Congress is going to get an extreme makeover in November. Who knows, maybe the new Congress will uncover some more dirt that could impeach him? 🙂