President
Tacks from black comedy into raw outrage, treacherous ground trod so deftly you feel like applauding. This is a gripping and lucid film.
-- Danny Leigh, Financial Times
The President
The President tells the story of a dictator who is forced to personally confront the many people tortured by his regime after his government is overthrown.
The President and his family rule their land with a draconian fist, enjoying a privileged and luxurious existence at the expense of his miserable and oppressed subjects. After a coup d'état uproots his position of power, the President's wife and daughters are flown out of the country as he stays behind with his grandson, who is too young to grasp the unfolding events. After his personal escort and bodyguards turn on him, he is forced to disguise himself and flee into the countryside to avoid capture. He soon learns that he is now the country's most wanted fugitive and begins a perilous journey with his grandson, his only ally. Posing as street musicians, the pair blend in with a band of haggard political prisoners just released from jail as they travel towards the coast to an awaiting ship that will take them to safety.
The President and his family rule their land with a draconian fist, enjoying a privileged and luxurious existence at the expense of his miserable and oppressed subjects. After a coup d'état uproots his position of power, the President's wife and daughters are flown out of the country as he stays behind with his grandson, who is too young to grasp the unfolding events. After his personal escort and bodyguards turn on him, he is forced to disguise himself and flee into the countryside to avoid capture. He soon learns that he is now the country's most wanted fugitive and begins a perilous journey with his grandson, his only ally. Posing as street musicians, the pair blend in with a band of haggard political prisoners just released from jail as they travel towards the coast to an awaiting ship that will take them to safety.
Genre
Drama
Web Site
Runtime
119
Language
Georgian
Director
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Cast
Mikheil Gomiashvili,
Dachi Orvelashvili
Awards:
Winner, Venice Horizons Award ~ Best Film, Venice Film Festival
FEATURED REVIEW
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
In Mohsen Makhmalbaf's political drama The President, the brutal dictator of an unnamed country (the movie was shot mainly in the Republic of Georgia) is deposed in a popular rebellion and goes on the run with his five-year-old grandson. Disguising themselves as refugees, they melt into the general ...
Played at
Lumiere Music Hall 7.22.16 - 7.28.16
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