I've just watched Death of a President, the much hyped Film Four 'documentary' on the assassination of George W Bush.

I was uneasy about the idea but thought that I should give it a go, because the publicity had stressed that it was not about the assassination as such, but rather about the policy implications and impact of such a crime. And I could see that there might indeed be some interesting thoughts prompted by such a serious drama.

Serious? About the issues? Yeah, right.

Really, this has to be one of the sickest films I've ever seen. There was not one second, not one character, and not one thought given over to the impact on the US and the world of the assassination of a President, or even of this particular President. The first half of the near two hour film was given over to a 'reconstruction' of the shooting, with full on action effects. What made it sick were the images of President Bush's picture in a wreath, the funeral oration (using doctored tape of real Cheney speeches) and sheer wallowing in the murder of President Bush. You could feel the producer and director positively drooling over the idea of a dead Bush.

The rest was pure - and not very good - drama about the investigation, with mock FBI agents telling how they went about things.

And guess what the film's main story was. You got it. An innocent Muslim was falsely convicted on the basis of weak forensic evidence, while the real culprit, a veteran, was ignored by the FBI. The innocent man languishes on death row because politically the Cheney administration wants to have a Muslim locked up, even though the FBI knows who really did it.

How very original.

Cheap, exploitative, nasty, ignorant and plain sick. Everyone involved in The Death of a President should hang their heads in shame. Not least because by making such a tawdry piece of schlock out of such an interesting idea, they have almost certainly prevented anyone else from taking it on and making something thought provoking and worthwhile.