THE FANTASY OF BUSH'S ASSASSINATION

A hypothesis or a fantasy ?

The ongoing Toronto film fest is going to feature Gabriel Range's Death Of A President, a "what if" taking the pulse of the nation two years after Bush has been murdered.

So, two years after the mini-scandal raised by Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint (2004), in which two characters spent the novel daydreaming on the subject and discussing the pros and cons of the possibility, the idea of Bush's assassination re-surfaces, this time under the form of a fake doco set in the future :

The hypothetical assassination of U.S. president George W. Bush, winner of the heated 2004 presidential election, has drawn a lot interest to Gabriel Range's "D.O.A.P." (Death Of A President"), a Toronto fest feature that TIFF co-director Noah Cowan calls "the most dangerous and breathtakingly original film" he has seen this year. The movie is structured as an investigative doc made two years after an unknown gunman kills Bush.

The film has drawn considerable media attention, stirring debates on U.S. news channels, and last week, Toronto fest organizers were compelled to issue a statement backing their decision to include it in the festival. Planners noted that the movie is screening in the Visions program, which "spotlights films which challenge our notions of mainstream cinema and explore new cinematic territory." Continuing in the statement, the festival said, "The Toronto International Film Festival is committed to the free expression of ideas and to engaging audiences in thoughtful discussion about issues of the day. 'D.O.A.P.' contributes meaningfully to the public discourse surrounding current social issues, demonstrates highly original storytelling techniques and utilizes innovative digital effects."

Continuing, the festival noted that the perspectives and/or opinions expressed in its films do not necessarily reflect those of the Toronto International Film Festival Group. And it added, "The film is not exploitative in any way and treats what would certainly be a great tragedy respectfully and un-cynically. In the tradition of great cautionary tales, a terrible and horrifying event unveils certain aspects of society's current fears and future trends."

Of course the topic forces the fest organizers and the makers of the movie to display an extreme brand of diplomacy, and of course Bush's assassination would be "a great tragedy" and "a terrible and horrifying event", yadda yadda yadda.

And of course I haven't seen the flick. Nevertheless, I'm more than skeptical about it being about "engaging audiences in thoughtful discussion about issues of the day" and "contributing meaningfully to the public discourse surrounding current social issues".

Beneath the inevitable (and tiresome) varnish of conventional respectability that such attempts are bound to wear, I don't think that the incentive lies in any sort of intellectual approach, but in a thumping and throbbing fantasy, deep-rooted and made fascinating by despair.

It's pretty obvious that such an event would solve nothing, and wouldn't even be half as satisfactory as one might expect. When I remember the inconsolable and hyperbolic tremoloes in so many voices when Reagan died in his bed at 93, I can't help but shrug at the thought of all the eager and feisty years of "Bush's martyrdom" legends in store for us from his devoted cronies and lackeys who hold everything. No, thank you... It wouldn't be a hangover, it would be a cirrhosis. Not worth the drunkenness.

However, just like Checkpoint was really about two people who had given up on any hope of influencing their country's direction, I suspect that DOAP really proceeds from the same deafeatist and all in all sad fantasy. Dreaming that Bush is killed is pleasant, but opiated. It's especially easier than getting him impeached. His virtual murder is the guilty pleasure of a nation of slaves, smacked down by absolutism.

Still, better dreaming of that than nothing. We're still in our prison cells, but at least we quit the Stockholm syndrome. The revolutions we get we deserve.