By Judi McLeod
Friday, September 1, 2006
Reality rarely, if ever, drops in on the folks in the glitzy film industry.
In a myriad of modern day terrorist attacks, not a single movie star got the final curtain call, or was ever maimed.
On the same day we plebes got to hear about the death of Quebec-born movie giant Glen Ford, another shock-u-mentary was being announced. The British inspired Death of a President will be shown next week at the Toronto Film Festival. It is also set to be aired on TV in October 2007. Since the crowning drama of Death of a President is the assassination of President George W. Bush, legions will tune in when it's released overseas, and it's all but a guarantee that the left-leaning Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) will televise plenty of re-runs.
Here in North america, the silver screen has strayed a long way from the life and times of Glen Ford, who died at home in his 90th year.
One of the last statements Ford made in having to decline, because of failing health, an invitation to what turned out to be his last birthday party: "I have so much to be grateful for."
The lib-left who love to hate "Cowboy" President George Bush, would welcome a docudrama, where a sniper gets to gun him down after a public address at a hotel in Chicago--especially when it's just in time for November mid-elections.
Wishful thinking for folk who are rarely, if ever, visited by stark reality?
Given that the assassination of american Presidents abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are historical reality, Death of a President is insensitive at best and a potential invitation to some Bush-hating crackpot at worst.
Brit Peter Dale, head of More4, which is due to air the film on Oct. 9, describes the drama as a "thought-provoking critique" of contemporary U.S. society. (Evening Standard, aug. 31, 2006).
"It's a pointed political examination of what the War on Terror did to the american body politic."
During the last election, it was Michael Moore and his Fahrenheit 9/11, proving that nothing, not even the death of 2,996 innocents, is sacred where the film industry and politics are concerned.
We don't know how British film stars square with reality.
We do know that a bevy of Hollywood stars that were going to pull up stakes and move to other countries if George W. Bush was re-elected, are still here.
In North america, reality may be a little hard to take for a Tom Cruise, a Susan Sarandon or a Barbra Streisand, but movie producers sometimes just reinvent life and politics.
It would seem that as far as some are concerned, it is time to even the score on a George Bush, who refuses to pull the troops out of Iraq, even after the well-publicized antics of activists like Cindy Sheehan.
Better than Bayer's aspirin, Hollywood producers can do plenty to lessen the pain of reality.
Don't like the idea of a Jesus who dedicated his life to the salvation of mankind, remaining celibate during the course?
Just call on Ron Howard to direct a filmbased on the story of a Jesus falling in love and marrying a wayward Mary Magdalene for the Da Vinci Code.
Not already frightened out of your wits by the increase in airplanes felled by terrorism?
Count on producer Craig Berenson to give you the creeps with Snakes on a Plane.
For Hollywood stars, and their politician Pooh-bah fellow travelers, aIDS is the only dreaded disease worth lobbying for. Real men and real women in North america are never felled by heart attacks in their prime, or waste away before our very eyes with cancer.
Don't like what Mel Gibson did with The Passion of the Christ? Do not accept his apology after he's made shameful anti-Semitic blatherings, while out on an alcoholic binge.
Getting a tad tired of the popularity of radio rage Rush Limbaugh?
Make a media tempest in a teapot over his being caught with a little blue Viagra pill at a Palm Beach airport.
If your enemies are riding high in real life, you can always get creative and make your own reality.
When you notice you've put on a little weight from the never-ending round of film festival cocktail parties, you can always duck out for a tummy tuck.
Notice those little wrinkles that come from frequenting the ski slopes?
Botox will smooth things out, and if it's only plastic surgery that can restore your flagging perpetual youth, you can always hide out on the latest cruise to heal so your friends don't get to know that your flawless skin does not really originate with your genes.
Hollywood stars, like their heavenly counterparts, only come out at night. You wouldn't want to see them sans makeup in the glaring light of day.
In real time in real life, George Bush is still in the White House and in the peak of good health. and he's going to be in the White House for the next two years.
But if that's too much to take, you can always stop pouting, ditch your shrink and watch him get blown away in Death of a President.
When life gets too tough for the Seriously-Stressed-by-Bush Society, they can take a break from reality while humming along aloud the bars from that confidence-building tune, Hooray for Hollywood!
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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