相信嗎？在多倫多電影節，有一部影片講述“美總統布什遇刺身亡”，而且該影片在多倫多上映后贏得滿堂彩，觀眾好評不斷。這部聳人聽聞的黑白電影“紀錄片”《總統之死》實為虛構，由英國導演埃爾·蘭格花巨資烹飪而成。它“紀錄”的是2007年10月19日，在布什視察芝加哥市并發表演講的時候，一個埋伏在附近的狙擊手槍殺了他。雖然埃爾·蘭格本人日前已收到白宮方面的死亡威脅，但影片已經以100萬美元的高價賣出了北美發行權，預計于年內上映。

A scene from the controversial British film 'Death of a President,' a fictional documentary showing the assassination of President Bush. [Reuters] After you kill off President George W. Bush in a fictional film, what do you do? How about make a deal.  Gabriel Range, the British producer/director/creator of "Death of a President," the fictional documentary that sight unseen became one of the most talked-about movies of the Toronto Film Festival, has sold U.S. distribution rights to Newmarket Films. Newmarket, which reportedly paid $1 million for the film, is expected to give "President" a wide release within the next few months. It will air on Britain's Channel 4 next month. Range's film opened on Sunday night to a sell-out festival crowd, which sat respectfully through it and applauded briefly at the end. Those who remained after the screening peppered the filmmaker with questions on how he achieved his special effects. The film is shot as if it were a conventional television documentary, even though the events are fictional. Range, who also co-wrote the film, uses footage taken of Bush during three visits to Chicago to create the scenes that lead up top the president being shot. He also uses special digital effects to superimpose the head of the president on that of an actor pretending to be shot, and he creates a flowery eulogy delivered by President Dick Cheney at the funeral of his predecessor. The movie opens with demonstrations against Bush as he visits Chicago in 2007. As he leaves a hotel after delivering a speech, he is shot by a sniper in a nearby building. A police hunt leads to the arrest of a Palestinian man on flimsy evidence. Later the man is convicted of the assassination and kept in prison even as evidence points to another person as having committed the crime. "The reaction of the general public was very good," Range said in an interview with Reuters about the opening night response. "People didn't know what to expect. Our film has a very striking premise but it is not sensational or gratuitous. I hope people will see it as a balanced film and compelling drama. It is an oblique look at the ways the United States has changed since 9/11. We use the lens of the future to explain the past." The 93-minute film's subject matter has led to protests in the United States, especially from conservatives. Range said he has received five or six death threats. (Agency)

Vocabulary:

sell-out: 票已售完（喻觀眾爆滿） documentary: 紀錄片，紀實片 flowery eulogy: 虛飾的頌詞 sniper: 狙擊者 flimsy: 無力的，站不住腳的（證據，言辭） premise: 假設 gratuitous: 無根由的，無理由的 （英語點津陳蓓編輯）