Just in time for election season–okay, maybe just a little late for election season–comes the story of the destiny of George Bush (the younger, as it turns out.) George Dubya has just three lies to spray before his petition into heaven is completely rejected and the wishes of many go fulfilled–and the title is rendered utterly inaccurate. Meanwhile, a fed-up Republican is staging a drama to reveal the scandals of the Bush administration.
Perhaps the tone of the piece is best summed up in the first four minutes when George’s heavenly advocate states in an objection to the prosecution’s case: “Incompetence is not a sin. “Somewhere, Michael Moore is rolling on the ground, and not from one too many omelettes stuffed with Ho-Hos. This is a movie that everyone needs to see, and just ahead of the 2008 presidential election. What Liebert and company have done is scout out over five years of Bush administration doubletalk and open contradiction and compress them into one entertaining, easy-to-follow package.
On an entertainment level, it does the job. There’s gunfights and political intrigue and last-minute escapes and–in a fantastic surprise–ninjas. Yeah, you read right. Ninjas. Like black-pajamas-and-sai ninjas. There’s some great political discourse here, and some interesting discussion. Even better, it also does the job on an investigative level. Timecoded footage makes for a lot of credibility.
As a further surprise, it will also manage to be its own behind the scenes featurette, giving some small instruction on the construction and promotion of a drama. It even, despite itself, manages to show the difficult conditions modern humorists and journalists must work under in this day and age–have we forgotten the arrested journalists who wouldn’t reveal their sources?–and even how political support dollars, and the machinations of the government, can be used as weapons.
Granted, the tone of the movie is incredibly anti-Republican, but for the most part, it’s with at least some justification. Even better, there is a positively fantastic twist ending! Genuinely, a fantastic twist ending. It’s a beauty. All in all, “George Bush Goes to Heaven” is a shocking and yet quite amazing look at the modern-era political landscape. A little heavyhanded at times, and plenty unnerving, the scariest part of it all is that most of it may well be true.
