The President

This is an interesting film about a deposed president of a fictional country. The fact that the country is fictional does not devalue the film, it moves it away from historical documentary and toward a humanist commentary, away from politics and towards philosophy.

This could've been any country, really. The world is filled with dictators and tyrants. What this film didn't need is people saying "Actually, the opposition turned out to be worse" or "This particular president did not order that" or any sort of political bickering, whataboutery and bias.

All the facts here are on the table. There is no "half the story is in the film, the other half is in reality."

The film shows how terrible people can be to each other, by they can't always blame their superiors or say they were just following orders. The film shows how this dictator can be horrible as a dictator and a poor refugee, how power did not corrupt him because he was just as bad without it, just as many others in the ensuing chaos of the power vacuum.

We see how people behave with and without power, under orders and on their own volition, when desperate and when not, as individuals and in groups, all in the course of 2 hours.

The cinematography is brilliant and there is a particular scene, the riot scene at the start of the film, is one of the greatest moments in cinema. It is that well done and it must be seen. It is worth watching the whole film for.

Not a perfect film but highly recommended.