'Death of a President' shocks some at US debut

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) The film is called ''Death of a President'' and its provocative premise has stirred up plenty of controversy. But it still managed to surprise several moviegoers on its US debut.

''I didn't know the president would get bumped off. I thought maybe he would get wounded,'' said Cutter Cash, 44.

''I thought it was going to be about Daddy Bush. I didn't know it was going to be about 'W,''' said Charles Snow, 45.

The pseudo-documentary imagines the assassination of President George W Bush and the hunt for the his killer that involves Arab-Americans and a black Iraq War veteran.

Politicians across the spectrum from the Republican Party of Texas, Bush's home state, to New York Democratic Sen.

Hillary Clinton have criticized the movie for portraying the killing of a sitting president.

At a theater seven blocks from the White House, a matinee audience scoffed when Bush warned about a nuclear-armed North Korea and chuckled when a Secret Service agent said he didn't engage in racial profiling.

But there was silence when the president was hit by sniper fire, and for much of the rest of the film.

Afterward, several said they had been motivated to see the film by their intense dislike of Bush and his conservative policies.

''It was funny when they were talking about what a great man he was, then it got serious when they start rounding everybody up,'' said Mikie Martinez, 55. ''It really brought out how much damage could be done if he was really assassinated.'' Her friend Susan Wallick, 53, said: ''I think it's sad that he's such a lousy president that we have to make a movie like this to get it out of our system.'' Snow said he did not take any of the movie's ''what if'' scenarios too seriously.

''I watched the movie for the entertainment value, and I was entertained,'' he said.

The Washington Post was not so charitable, saying the movie was realistic but ultimately exploitative rather than truly thought-provoking.

British Director Gabriel Range is ''artistically akin to the man who shouts 'Fire!' in a crowded theater, and then wonders why no one sticks around to hear his argument for brighter exit signs,'' Post movie critic Ann Hornaday wrote.

Two theater chains have declined to screen the film, while CNN and National Public Radio have refused to run ads for it.

Reuters DKS VP0450