The President

An imaginary country in the Caucasus. The dictator shows his grandson what power means by playing with the city lights: he picks up the phone and the city goes dark, picks it up again and the lights return. Then one day he makes the call and nothing happens. There has been a coup. The family flies out, but the boy wants to stay and his grandfather stays with him. The two cross the country on foot dressed as street musicians, and the man sees the places he ruled for the first time. The crowd behind them wants to hang him. Mohsen Makhmalbaf directs; a hundred and fifteen minutes. It was shot in Georgia with a largely Georgian cast. Makhmalbaf builds the film not to excuse a dictator but to ask what should be done with one after he falls.