Review of The Devil's Double (2011) by Colo G — 21 Feb 2012

A bit of "grand guignol" with an historical slant, this is a largely fictionalized account of the man (Latif Yahia) who was chosen to double in public appearances for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's oldest son, the deranged Uday Hussein. This was the period leading up to and just after the War in Kuwait. "The Devil's Double" has a central performance by Dominic Cooper (portraying both Uday and his double) that is difficult to fault. He easily transforms from one character to the other, sometimes appearing onscreen with himself, and yet we're always sure of exactly which character we're watching. It's a great acting turn, and Mr. Cooper is convincing in both his appearance and accent. Having seen newspaper photos of Uday at the time, I was shocked when Dominic Cooper first flashed his gap-toothed grin to see how dead-on was his resemblance to the real-life playboy. Ludavine Sagnier portrays Uday's reluctant yet principal lover, Sarrab, who at one point insists she has no money, because she's not a prostitute. But she has style and conveys a certain vulnerability in the role. She's well aware that Uday may grow tired of her someday and that she will end up just another body in the river. Her growing friendship with Latif provides the central emotional appeal of the film. She seems to view him as a sympathetic fellow inmate in this politically privileged madhouse.

The ruling family of Iraq until their fall in 2003, the Saddam family more closely resembled a crime syndicate. They ruled by fear and intimidation, and though papa Saddam, and younger brother Qusay, seemed to have a handle on the business end of the operation, Uday ran his own course, and probably was a psychopath stuck in perpetual adolescence, who let his penis do his thinking. Both bully and coward, his total depravity earned him the title of "the Black Prince." In the deck of "target cards" the U.S. Army compiled going in, Uday was the Ace of Hearts. Addicted to women, fast cars, and cocaine, and with a moral compass that apparently pointed straight down to hell, he liked to cruise the streets of Baghdad in his flashy cars, looking for young schoolgirls to rape. Latif, on the other hand, was a reluctant player, snatched from obscurity by his resemblance to the dictator's son; fear of harm to his family kept him in his unenviable job for several years.

The film has plenty of titillation, but it is not over the top, and the violence, while central to the story, does not seem gratuitous. The story arc moves nicely, the locations look authentic, and the interspersed news footage from the War in Kuwait lends an air of relevance to a fascinating fable.