相信吗？在多伦多电影节，有一部影片讲述“美总统布什遇刺身亡”，而且该影片在多伦多上映后赢得满堂彩，观众好评不断。这部耸人听闻的黑白电影“纪录片”《总统之死》实为虚构，由英国导演埃尔·兰格花巨资烹饪而成。它“纪录”的是2007年10月19日，在布什视察芝加哥市并发表演讲的时候，一个埋伏在附近的狙击手枪杀了他。虽然埃尔·兰格本人日前已收到白宫方面的死亡威胁，但影片已经以100万美元的高价卖出了北美发行权，预计于年内上映。

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（喻观众爆满） documentary: 纪录片，纪实片 flowery eulogy: 虚饰的颂词 sniper: 狙击者 flimsy: 无力的，站不住脚的（证据，言辞） premise: 假设 gratuitous: 无根由的，无理由的 （英语点津陈蓓编辑）