Review of The Devil's Double (2011) by Adam F — 08 Dec 2013

"The Devil's Double" is a film that will shake you and disturb you; you'll want to turn away but it contains a performance by Dominic Cooper that's so good, your eyes will be glued to the screen. The film, based on the autobiographical book follows Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper). He's an Iraqi soldier that is summoned by his childhood acquaintance, Uday Hussein (Dominic Cooper). The conversation goes something like this "Remember when kids used to say that we looked alike? Well guess what. Now, you're going to be my double. Think about it for ten minutes and when I come back, we'll get you prepped for facial surgery." Latif is forced to become the double of Sadam Hussein's eldest son. His family is told that he died in combat and he is forbidden from speaking to them ever again. If that wasn't bad enough, Uday is a complete sociopath. The film follows Latif through real-world events as he is exposed to Uday's increasingly sadistic, cruel and violent behavior. Our main character desperately wants a way out but how do you escape someone who holds the entire country in a grip of terror?

This is a profoundly disturbing movie to watch. "The Devil's Double" might not be a literal description of the film, but there's no other word to describe Uday in this film; he's evil. As the movie progresses, it exposes his violent and sadistic behavior. He murders people in fits of rage, he gleefully tortures subjects that don't please him and he frequently commits rape. Worst of all, he knows that he hurts people but he not only doesn't care, he enjoys it. He loves himself so much he is willing to do anything on the odd chance that it will make himself happier. Imagine yourself having to pretend you're this guy. Imagine being told "You're going to see Uday bring schoolgirls he's snatched up off of the street into his room. You might think of speaking against him when you see this but before you even consider this, watch this video and see what happens to the people that upset him." That's sick and shocking. A lot of the film's appeal is that you have a sympathetic character that is stuck between a rock and a hard place. You desperately want him to get away but you're at a loss on how it could possibly happen. Now I want to take a short moment and say that this is not an exploitation film. When I say that people are getting murdered, tortured and raped I will say that the way this is shown is very tasteful. It's more about the brief glimpses of violence before the camera turns away or the shots of the aftermath, with dead bodies being dumped outside the city like trash or people quietly shuffling away after witnessing a murder than long extended scenes of people screaming in agony. So we've got a villain who's nearly cartoonish in his revelry of decadent behavior. Pair that up with a good man who is forced to take his place. When there's a chance of an assassination attempt, he's the one on the front line. When there's a big party with women throwing themselves at Uday, he's there too because the monster has no friends, only slaves he can drag around to accompany him. The film is incredibly intense because the more time passes, the more you and Latif are looking for a way out. You're hoping that Uday will eventually become bored with this masquerade and dismiss Latif. Even better, that he might end up dead of a drug overdose or a successful assassination. What's far more likely and becomes apparent is that Uday will fly in a fit of rage or boredom and just put a bullet in the head of his new "friend". In fact, you almost wish he would so that this torture would be over. But Uday keeps insisting that he "loves him" so you know that the only way out is by escaping the country or by ending up dead by his own hand.

Dominic Cooper plays both Uday and Latif and it's an incredible performance. Somehow he is able to look different (even though the two look nearly identical) just by doing something with his expressions or his eyes. Somehow though, he never quite looks like an exact duplicate of himself so you can always tell which character he is playing, it just takes you a couple of seconds to scan his face in order to pick up the clues. I know that might not make any sense, but it's the best I can do to describe the acting on display here, it's that good. This is one of those movies where you wonder how they did it. It's one actor, playing two roles that interact with each other constantly. There's a boxing scene where the two square off for a bit and I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how they staged it all. While Cooper steals the show, everyone in this movie is great. His father, played by Nasser Memarzia, his only real friend Sarrab (played by Ludivine Sagnier) and in a small role that has very few lines, Philip Quast as Saddam Hussein and his double, a man that no longer has a real name, also manages to create two distinct characters. Everyone here has enough character development to feel genuine and enough moments to expose several layers. It makes it that much more tragic when you see their ultimate fate (well, except for Uday. It's been a long time since I wanted a real-life person brutally maimed or murdered as much as his character in the film).

When I finished the film, I was shaking. I wondered to myself if someone this evil could really have been alive and the scary things was that yes, I truly believe it. It's the kind of movie where when you leave you're quiet because you have to collect your thoughts and mentally piece yourself back together, getting out of the incredibly adrenaline pumping film you just left and returning to your normal life. Yes it will make you squirm. Yes, sometimes you might even want to look away. When a film is this emotionally effective though, it becomes more than just a movie, it's an experience. I was so impacted by the film that at first, I wanted to get as far away from it as I could. The more I let it sink in though, the more I realized how great it was. Because of the incredible performance by the actors (and of course, special highlight to Dominic Cooper) and the way the films plays out in the end, I could really see myself watching the movie again and genuinely being able to really enjoy it because of the thriller and technical elements. It's not a feel-good movie by any means, but being mentally prepared to brave the debauchery on screen would lessen the shock. I know it's not going to be for everyone, but I would rather you take a chance and watch the movie than assume you can't handle it and tell you to shy away. It's a powerful 108 minutes that will make you re-think a lot of things. For that, it earns itself 5 stars. (Dvd, December 7, 2013).