It turns out that I'm of two minds about it, which is why I say you should
reluctantly go to see it - if even just so that you can bear witness and make
your mind up. It's such a politically charged picture that it would have to be
absolutely dire, on top of not sitting with my personal political convictions,
to attract a "Don't bother" rating from me.
Early into the final act of the film I was ready to give you an unabashed "Don't
bother" for "Death of a President", as it seemed to be turning into a
politically clich馘 piece of claptrap in which the main suspect is essentially
jailed in a put up job and the real shooter goes unrecognised.
It is not an implausible scenario - the British proved it when the likes of the
Guildford Four, Maguire Seven and Birmingham Six were all falsely convicted of
IRA bombings on mainland Britain via a conspiracy involving police officials,
eventually to be exonerated after some had died in prison. The way in which
"Death of a President" presents this scenario at first riled me up, but then
tempered this with some interesting twists.
Ultimately I don't like "Death of a President", for its politics more than
anything else. I would not discourage somebody from spending an hour or two of
their lives digesting it however, as it is interesting and at the least, thought
provoking.
To the issue of US cinemas refusing to show the film and politicians such as
Hillary Clinton terming it "despicable" and "outrageous", I would say two
things: Firstly, you're playing into the marketing hands of the film makers,
well done. People who are going to go and see this film are probably going to
feel more inclined to do so now, and you've introduced it to a wider audience;
whilst those who were not going to see the film in the first place might drum up
a bit more PR for the movie if they, I dunno, burn down a movie theatre showing
it or something.
Secondly, don't be so uptight. If this were a film endorsing the assassination
of a world leader (which, among many things it is, it is not) then I'd have a
different standpoint, but to be frank the assassination of the President of the
United States is a valid political catalyst and, let's face it, it's always a
distinct possibility that somebody will make an attempt upon a President's life.
I hardly think that such people will gain their motivation or training from
watching this movie, and as to the content, so be it.
Decide if you want to go see this movie or not. I daresay your personal politics
will dictate what impression you come out of it with even before the opening
credits roll.
