Review of The Devil's Double (2011) by Randy O — 29 Nov 2011

Lee Tamahori film "The Devil's Double" is based on Uday Hussein, the eldest son of Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Hussein finds a man who looks exactly like Uday and grooms him to be his double. The double is Latif Yahia played by Dominic Cooper. Cooper is also Uday Hussein and the picture is flawless seeming the same actor as a visual and special effect.

Cooper's performance as Uday Hussein is just as ruthless as Tony Montana, Amon Göth, Anton Chigurh, Tommy DeVito, Nicky Santoro, and Bill The Butcher. Clearly, Uday is an insane man, raping women and young schoolgirls dumping their helpless bodies in a ditch, filled with exploding rage uses violence as fear, and ignorance mixing with power because, well sadly Uday has all the money in the world and with money comes power. On the other hand, Latif Yahia clearly knows he's in the wrong business and sees the corruption within Uday organization but gives in since he has no other choice. It's a shame the film doesn't tell it from Yahia POV instead I felt like I was on the outside and where Uday gets more screen time then his double. The idea of bringing in a mistress, Sarrab (Ludivine Sagnier) is not very successful because I wondered what was her real purpose? If she knows what she's getting into then why stay? She sure looks great to look at in the nude though.

There's a small scene where Latif speaks to a Hussein aide "You're a good man but you're in a bad business" The old man knows this but goes about his business since well he too can be silenced. The picture does well using archive footage of the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein, in a startling scene goes to visit son in the hospital, disgusted Hussein says "I should have killed you the day you were born.".