Chris_Lacon
Based on an (allegedly) true story, Lee Tamahori's "The Devils Double" is a slick and stylish production, featuring an well crafted dual performance by Dominic Cooper, portraying both Uday: the sociopathic, hedonistic son of Saddam Hussein, and as Latif Yahia: the Iraqi soldier forced to become his body double. The film, however, feels like something of a missed opportunity, and that the end result, whist an entertaining film, is somewhat less than the sum of its parts and feels like merely a good film, rather than the potentially great one it could have been.Cooper's performance as Uday and his titular double is undoubtedly the highlight of the film. As Uday, Cooper allows himself to practically devour the scenery, portraying the dictator's son as a nightmarish cross between Caligula and Tony Montana, raping and murdering with selfish aplomb. Cooper clearly has fun as the monstrous Uday, although according to various sources, the real Uday was far more vicious then Cooper's portrayal. This reflects more on the film's style and direction then Cooper himself, as I felt with a more realistic, grittier take on the material; Cooper's performance could have been as iconic as Pacino's. His second role as Latif: increasingly horrified and disgusted with Uday's excesses, is considerably more understated and at times, can feel a little underdeveloped, compared to Uday's flamboyancy. Ultimately, Latif feels more like a stock character, a mob underling in over his head with a psychotic kingpin, rather than the films emotional core.The cast is rounded out by Ludivine Sagnier as Sarrab, Uday's concubine and later Latif's lover, Raad Rawi as Munem, Uday's stoic and long suffering security chief, Mem Ferda as Kamel Hannah, a "twittering little pimp" who insults Uday and pays dearly for it and musical theatre veteran, Philip Quast, as Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator and Uday's disapproving father.Out of the supporting cast, Rawi and Quast, are the standouts, with Rawi's body guard, imbued with quiet dignity and subtle authority, clearly fed up with having to look after his psychotic charge and yet unable to do anything about it. One scene, has Latif and Munem discussing Uday's utter insanity, the subtle look on Rawi's face as Latif tells him that "He's a good man in a bad job" sells his characters frustration without saying anything. Quast's Saddam, despite his brief appearances, radiates authority and his scenes, opposite his arrant son, are filled with a deep sense of tension. Sagnier is, however, the weakest link in the supporting cast, playing a typical femme fatale role as Uday's kept woman. Sagnier gives a rather wooden, dispassionate performance and her chemistry with Cooper is lacking.The films slickness and stylish look both help and hinder the films tone. The visual look of the film is slick and glossy, giving it a gaudy, sensationalised appearance. In a way, this helps the film's narrative, given that the majority of the films scene's happen in the luxurious palaces, homes and nightclubs frequented by Uday and his entourage, places considerably different from where the average Iraqi lived, highlighting the extravagant, hedonistic lives that the ruling family lived. On the downside, the gloss makes the film feel like a generic gangster movie which isn't helped by the other genre trappings (The violent sociopath, the femme fatales, the reluctant henchman) the film displays throughout. I think with a grittier, more realistic take on the story (Perhaps similar to Tamahori's 1994 breakout "Once Were Warriors, depicting violence in the Maori community), the film could have been better, but with the films style clashing slightly with the story, the result is the film feeling rather disjointed.Overall, I would say "The Devils Double", whist far from a great movie, is not by default a bad movie either. Cooper's performance as Uday is enjoyable to watch, in the same way Pacino is "enjoyable" in "Scarface, or Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas". The films garnish visual tone, however cheapens the film into feeling like a generic thriller. Ultimately,it is a disappointment that what could have been a gritty, brutal take on one of the vilest and cruellest figures of Saddam's Iraq, is watered down into an entertaining, albeit somewhat forgettable, gangster film.
svikasha
The Devil's Double tells the story of an Iraqi youth named Latif who is forced into taking a job as the "double" for the son of Iraq's now infamous former- dictator, Saddam Hussein. While the attention to detail and historical accuracy is not on the same level as HBO's iconic adaptation of Hussein's story in the miniseries House of Saddam, the Devil's Double does offer a different perspective. While HBO's show focused on the Hussein family and Saddam himself, the Devil's Double depicts the barbaric Hussein family from the perspective of an outsider in the form of Latif. Dominic Cooper takes on a dual-role in this film, playing both Latif and the primary antagonist Uday Hussein, the malicious eldest son of Saddam. The movie opens with authentic graphic footage from the Iran–Iraq War, a conflict started by the Hussein regime that lasted nearly a decade and cost Iraq over $500 billion. Although the war rages on, it is immediately made clear that the main character, Latif, is being escorted away from the front. Instead, Latif is brought to an opulent palace in two gleaming black Mercedes cars. It's hard not to pick up on the dark contrast between the reality of the war front that was just depicted and the palace that Latif is brought to. At this point it should be mentioned that most people with a keen knowledge of the Saddam Hussein regime agree that, despite all of the cruel and inhumane things that Saddam Hussein did during his brutal regime, his son Uday Hussein would have been far worse for Iraq. The Devil's Double offers a harrowing portrait of life under the thumb of a brutal dictator's regime. Uday Hussein, the son of Iraq's president Saddam Hussein offers Latif a job due to his striking resemblance to Uday. Hussein requests that Latif becomes his, "fedai", or body double to serve as a decoy in case of an assassination attempt. Latif naively refuses initially, but after being imprisoned and tortured, agrees, reluctantly. He eventually comes to understand the extent of the danger that is present to both him and his family. The job offer from Uday was never something that could have been refused. Latif learns just how cruel Uday Hussein really is from having to serve as Hussein's "fedai". Uday forces Latif to accompany him everywhere, while he cruelly tortures, kidnaps, humiliates, and assaults the people of Iraq for his own amusement. Nobody is immune to the devil's assault. Uday regularly kidnaps schoolgirls on their way home from primary school in exotic sports cars to rape them. At one point, he forces his dinner guests to undress in front of him for his birthday. Uday tortures men, women, and children for perceived slights and humiliations known only to him. Nobody can stop Uday who is the son of the most powerful man in the country. Latif is caught in the crosswind. The most haunting scene in the entire film happens when Uday Hussein sees a pretty bride wearing her wedding dress at her own wedding. Aroused, Hussein cruelly asks his bodyguard to bring the bride to his hotel room so he can rape her on her wedding day. The guards comply. After the harrowing event, the film depicts the bride bloodied and in a state of shock. She then leaves the hotel room and jumps off of the roof to commit suicide. Witnessing such senseless barbarity on a regular basis naturally takes its toll on Latif's sanity. At one point in the film, Latif slits his own wrists just to see if Uday will even let him die of his own volition. Latif is immediately given medical treatment and is basically denied the ability to even end his own life. It's hard to tell when the Devil's Double is being gratuitous and when it is being accurate. But the true history of Saddam Hussein's brutal and repressive regime is far from clean or sanitary. So perhaps the film's depiction of sexual violence and blood do justice to the gruesome subject matter. Some might feel that the blood and sexual violence should have been cut out from the film altogether to make it more palatable. In the movie's adaptation, the groom of the bride who committed suicide joins forces with Latif and together the two scorned individuals get revenge by making an assassination attempt on Uday Hussein's life. Unfortunately, in real life, the groom with the abducted bride committed suicide as well by shooting himself in the head at his own wedding. Uday Hussein cruelly continued to torment Iraq until he was eventually killed by United States forces in 2003. His corpse was shown on national television and his death was very much celebrated across Iraq. Those who can't handle this film's toned down version of the historical events cannot handle the real history.
rwray2
I saw this film just recently Sept 2016 on one of the premium cable channels.. At my age (63) and past experiences, I try not to watch anything but comedies but the historian in guys and gals my age wanted to... Now, there are so many reviews of this movie that I would think it has received enough opinions for anyone to read so I won't put my advice/review/etc.. to theirs...All I wanted to say was "DAMN !!! DOESN'T DOMINIC COOPER REALLY LOOK LIKE UDAY HUSSEIN ???" Then looking Dominic up on IMDb and learning a bit about him and his roles, did I start to realize that if Uday wasn't such a catered psychotic sociopath and not lived in such an unmoralistic debauchery type of environment (since psychopaths are born, not created as sociopaths are, and are not necessarily violent)that he was handsome enough to charm the pants off his victims... (that is a really weird thought)... But still, Damn !!! Doesn't Dominic Cooper look like the real Uday (I want to call him Uber for some reason) Hussein, of whom I am so glad that he is dead... and to learn that Dominic played both parts (which is hard enough) but knocked both roles out of the park.... You have a new Fan, Dominic !! Right after I get your portrayal of Uday out of my mind... Damn !!! You really look like Uday Hussein !!!!
rajatdahiyax
Summoned from the front line to Saddam Hussein's palace, Iraqi army lieutenant Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper) is thrust into the highest echelons of the "royal family" when he's ordered to become the 'fiday' - or body double - to Saddam's son, the notorious "Black Prince" Uday Hussein (also Dominic Cooper), a reckless, sadistic party-boy with a rabid hunger for sex and brutality. With his and his family's lives at stake, Latif must surrender his former self forever as he learns to walk, talk and act like Uday. But nothing could have prepared him for the horror of the Black Prince's psychotic, drug-addled life of fast cars, easy women and impulsive violence.
