Death of a President

Here's a film that Americans will most likely not be seeing, unless they download a pirated copy from the internet. Death of a President is a British produced mocumentary that portrays the assassination of George W. Bush during an anti-war rally in Chicago in 2007. The film was shown at the Toronto Film Festival last month, and will be shown on British television -- but US theatres are balking at the film because they don't consider the content appropriate. Self censorship by businesses is nothing new -- but this film would make money -- lots of it, if it was shown, simply because the topic is so ridiculous. It is a testament to the state of affairs in America, that Death of a President is receiving such a cold shoulder by businesses who's sole responsibility is to the enrichment of shareholder value. Perhaps it's a calculated response in order not to run afoul of the Bush administration -- or perhaps it's blind allegiance -- either way, it's disturbing.

If there was a Democratic government in power and the film was about the assassination of a Democratic President, I wonder if there would be such prudence from distributors.