Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- paranoid
- provocative
- tense
- political cinema night
- documentary double feature
What critics said
Critics generally found the fictional documentary technically inventive and politically provocative, but judged its long setup unconvincing, melodramatic, and dramatically inert.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The assassination and its investigation are presented as an investigative documentary assembled from purported evidence and testimony.
The film builds its central mystery around the imagined assassination of sitting president George W. Bush.
The investigation invokes assassination, terrorism fears, political suspicion, and the security culture associated with the post-9/11 United States.
Its depiction of Bush's potential assassination generated public condemnation, theater refusals, and debate about exploitation and taste.
Films like Death of a President, and why
The War Game
fictional documentary form, political provocation, and speculative assassination scenario
The Parallax View
political thriller tension shaped through documentary-style realism and institutional conspiracy
Wag the Dog
alternate political history, media manipulation, and satirical treatment of American power
Special Bulletin
fictionalized political catastrophe presented through news and documentary conventions
Movie Details
- Director
- Gabriel Range
- Release Date
- 2006-10-27
- Runtime
- 97 min
- Rating
- 5.6 / 10 (82)
Cast
- Hend Ayoub
- Becky Ann Baker
- Brian Boland
- Michael Reilly Burke
- Patricia Buckley
- Seena Ghaznavi
- Robert Mangiardi
- Neko Parham
- Jay Patterson
- Chavez Ravine
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Howdy Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Death of a President about?
- A provocative fictional documentary reconstructs the unsolved assassination of George W. Bush through the anxious machinery of post-9/11 American politics.
- What is Death of a President like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Death of a President as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Death of a President violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Death of a President as graphic.
- What did critics think of Death of a President?
- Critics generally found the fictional documentary technically inventive and politically provocative, but judged its long setup unconvincing, melodramatic, and dramatically inert.
- Which films are like Death of a President?
- Films with a similar feel include The War Game, The Parallax View, Wag the Dog, and Special Bulletin.
- How long is Death of a President?
- Death of a President runs 97 minutes.
- Where can I watch Death of a President?
- In United States, Death of a President streams on Howdy Amazon Channel.
