A sniper has gunned down President Bush as he delivered a speech to business leaders in Chicago. Secret service agents attempted to rush the President away, but he slumped to the floor and died at the scene.

That’s the story-line of a what promises to be a highly controversial film called ‘Death of a President’ which will be premiered at the Toronto film festival next month and aired on the British digital TV station, More4, shortly thereafter. The film, which is shot in the style of a retrospective documentary, starts with the assassination of President Bush in October 2007. It uses the fictional murder to explore the effects of Mr Bush’s war on terror both in the US and across the world.

Using a combination of archive footage, and computer enhanced special effects the President’s fictional moments are chillingly ‘real looking’.

“I’m sure there will be people who are upset by it. But when you watch it, you realise what a sophisticated piece of work it is,” said Peter Dale, the head of More4. “It’s not sensational or simplistic, it’s thought provoking.”

At this time there are no plans to release the film in the United States, but the film makers and distributors are believed to be keen to see it aired on American television. The White House declined to comment on any matter regarding the film.

Upon the announcement that the film would be aired on British television the Daily Mail newspaper published a article that also takes a retrospective look at a world after President Bush is assassinated. In the piece written by Mark Almond he writes. “gloating over Bush’s death soon gave way to a sober realisation that he had actually been a check on Dick Cheney’s ruthless way of defending America from enemies at home or abroad.”

As unpopular as the President may indeed be, it would seem that few relish a possibility of having vice President Dick Cheney sitting in the oval office.

More4 are also set feature a another upcoming film called ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’, which takes a satirical look at the imagined resignation of Britain’s Prime Minister. Both films are intended to spark political debate, though ‘Death of a President’ is expected to be the focus of much controversy when it airs in October.

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