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Movies / Upcoming / Dinner With the President: A Nation's Journey
Dinner With the President: A Nation's Journey

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Dinner With the President: A Nation's Journey (2008)

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Reviews Counted:4

Fresh:3

Rotten:1

Average Rating:N/A

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 80 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release:Nov 13, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: Are dictatorship and democracy mutually exclusive? In a country with cultures as ancient and complex as Pakistan’s, the answer to what the future holds is not straightforward. Projected to be the... Are dictatorship and democracy mutually exclusive? In a country with cultures as ancient and complex as Pakistan’s, the answer to what the future holds is not straightforward. Projected to be the world’s third-most-populous country by 2050, Pakistan has stood at the crossroads of East and West for centuries. Now in the “nuclear club” and an emerging secular democracy amidst neighboring Islamic theocracies, Pakistan plays a critical role in America’s war on terrorism. President Pervez Musharraf has long been seen as a key United States ally in the region--a reputation that does not always serve him well in Pakistan.

In Dinner with the President: A Nation’s Journey, Pakistani filmmakers Sabiha Sumar and Satha Sathananthan request a dinner with their country’s leader, and to their surprise, the request is granted. The family dinner with Musharraf and his mother forms the backdrop to a filmic journey through contemporary Pakistan as the filmmakers forego the headlines and search the country for deeper answers.

In surprising encounters with people from across Pakistani society, they reveal a country where ethnic and tribal loyalties struggle against modernization and religious Islamic forces threaten to make Pakistan a theocracy like Iran. In the crosshairs of change sits the president himself, whose ties to the military and modernization efforts in Pakistan have made him a lightning rod for controversy from across the political spectrum. --© Sundance Film Festival
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Director: Sachithanandam Sathananthan, Sabiha Sumar

Director: Sachithanandam Sathananthan, Sabiha Sumar
Screenwriter: Sachithanandam Sathananthan, Sabiha Sumar

Reviews for Dinner With the President: A Nation's Journey

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The film concludes that Pakistan has no easy route toward democracy. If Pervez Musharraf offers one vision, through "empowering" women, the villager Chacha suggests another, similarly abstract idea: the nation's fate is in God's hands.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
11/14/08
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

In Dinner With the President the filmmakers go in search of nothing less than the meaning of democracy in Pakistan.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
11/13/08
Nathan Lee
Nathan Lee
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Directors Sabiha Sumar and Sachithanandam Sathananthan examine where their homeland will be in ten years, and the answer reveals a nation full of contradictions.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
11/12/08
Stephen Garrett
Stephen Garrett
Time Out New York

For all of Sumar's hard work and interesting footage, Dinner With the President is a mess, alternating interviews and Sumar's token progressive sentiments before carelessly using the assassination of Benazir Bhutto for a queasy, drawn-out climax.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
11/12/08
Vadim Rizov
Vadim Rizov
Village Voice
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