After the 1991 Iraqi conflict, stories of the atrocities perpetuated by the country's then 'president' Saddam Hussein were sadly all too commonplace. But Hussein's son, Uday, almost became as famous as his father when stories would leak out about him: his penchant for young girls, his love of torture and his starving hounds who he kept on standby to occasionally tear apart and eat any woman who dared turn down his "charms". Through all this, apparently, he had a double who witnessed the whole thing and it's his story that's detailed here in The Devil's Double.
Loosely based on the book by Latif Yahia – the alleged double – who, let's be honest, looks nothing like Uday Hussein, despite his claims to have had surgery, The Devil's Double tells the story of how hardworking, honest Latif is forced before Uday, the son of Saddam with a simple request: be his double, his 'brother' as Uday prefers to put it. Since Latif is presumed dead, having fought in the Iran/Iraq war, he's told he has nothing to lose but much to gain by accepting. However, Latif still refuses and is basically tortured and beaten into submission. What follows then is the story of Uday Hussein, told the point of view of his double, who witnesses from the sidelines the gradual descent of the always unstable Uday into fully fledged, certified coke head crackpot.
One could imagine the early production meetings and director Lee Tamahori going "I'm going to make a movie set in 80s Iraq but it will be about the rise and fall of an 80s criminal!" He's clearly aware of the doubts about Yahia's veracity and seems quite content to make what is essentially an Arabic gangster thriller. If you want proof of this, the '91 Gulf war only gets a passing reference and it's literally that: a passing reference. Forget about politics. The movie has other things to deal with, the least of which is Uday Hussein's very mixed and colorful sex life: he liked women and men – especially transvestites. There's even a short scene that hints at an incestuous affair with his mother. You can forget politics when you've got this salacious stuff going on.
Malta, standing in for Iraq, is a very convincing location. It feels like Iraq, it has the right atmosphere, desert vistas and architecture. The buildings are suitably luxurious and opulent. In fact, the presentation of Iraq here can't be faulted until, that is, the moment you see all the distinctly western women populating the palaces and nightclubs.
Look, we know Iraq won't be safe to shoot in for maybe over a decade, but really, they could have made a bit more effort here. For a movie supposedly set in Iraq, all the women look either European or American. Could they not get any Arabic women? One look at Ludivine Sagnier, as capable as she is, and it almost becomes farcical. She's so clearly not from Iraq, you're almost reminded of the olden days when an actress would simply don a dark wig to play lady from – any – foreign country. It's very lazy casting and serves to only sink the verisimilitude they had achieved up to this.
Director Tamahori must really have trusted his actor. The notion of one actor playing both roles could have been a laughable disaster. Different actors could probably have played them and you would have gotten the same effect, but Cooper manages pulls of it off effortlessly. However Dominic Cooper's rendition of Uday Hussein isn't scary; over the top, yes, but scary, no. Instead, he plays it with a slightly comical edge that makes Uday Hussein more camp than anything else. So much so if fact he really wouldn't be out of place in an Austin Powers movie. It's an energetic performance for sure, though not as edgy as you would have liked.
In addition to the lack of Arabic actresses, there is also another problem that tends to undersell the entire enterprise: too much of the action takes place in nightclubs. The location sheet for the shoot must have surely read like this: palace, nightclub, desert, nightclub, swimming pool, night club etc., because the amount of nightclub scenes in this movie is over the top and not necessarily in a good way. Once again, you realize Lee Tamahori's debt to a certain gangster movie directed by Brian De Palma in 1983.
So how much, if any, of this is real? That's anyone's guess. There's no question Uday Hussein was a very disturbed psychopathic individual who was capable of pretty much anything imaginable, but how much of his story recounted through the eyes of his so-called double can be relied upon? For all we know Latif Yahia could be a Walter Mitty type who made up the entire tale. But whatever the truth, as a movie, The Devil's Double is not perfect by any means. But it's worth watching for the convincingly unhinged performance by Dominic Cooper.
Loosely based on the book by Latif Yahia – the alleged double – who, let's be honest, looks nothing like Uday Hussein, despite his claims to have had surgery, The Devil's Double tells the story of how hardworking, honest Latif is forced before Uday, the son of Saddam with a simple request: be his double, his 'brother' as Uday prefers to put it. Since Latif is presumed dead, having fought in the Iran/Iraq war, he's told he has nothing to lose but much to gain by accepting. However, Latif still refuses and is basically tortured and beaten into submission. What follows then is the story of Uday Hussein, told the point of view of his double, who witnesses from the sidelines the gradual descent of the always unstable Uday into fully fledged, certified coke head crackpot.
One could imagine the early production meetings and director Lee Tamahori going "I'm going to make a movie set in 80s Iraq but it will be about the rise and fall of an 80s criminal!" He's clearly aware of the doubts about Yahia's veracity and seems quite content to make what is essentially an Arabic gangster thriller. If you want proof of this, the '91 Gulf war only gets a passing reference and it's literally that: a passing reference. Forget about politics. The movie has other things to deal with, the least of which is Uday Hussein's very mixed and colorful sex life: he liked women and men – especially transvestites. There's even a short scene that hints at an incestuous affair with his mother. You can forget politics when you've got this salacious stuff going on.
Malta, standing in for Iraq, is a very convincing location. It feels like Iraq, it has the right atmosphere, desert vistas and architecture. The buildings are suitably luxurious and opulent. In fact, the presentation of Iraq here can't be faulted until, that is, the moment you see all the distinctly western women populating the palaces and nightclubs.
Look, we know Iraq won't be safe to shoot in for maybe over a decade, but really, they could have made a bit more effort here. For a movie supposedly set in Iraq, all the women look either European or American. Could they not get any Arabic women? One look at Ludivine Sagnier, as capable as she is, and it almost becomes farcical. She's so clearly not from Iraq, you're almost reminded of the olden days when an actress would simply don a dark wig to play lady from – any – foreign country. It's very lazy casting and serves to only sink the verisimilitude they had achieved up to this.
Director Tamahori must really have trusted his actor. The notion of one actor playing both roles could have been a laughable disaster. Different actors could probably have played them and you would have gotten the same effect, but Cooper manages pulls of it off effortlessly. However Dominic Cooper's rendition of Uday Hussein isn't scary; over the top, yes, but scary, no. Instead, he plays it with a slightly comical edge that makes Uday Hussein more camp than anything else. So much so if fact he really wouldn't be out of place in an Austin Powers movie. It's an energetic performance for sure, though not as edgy as you would have liked.
In addition to the lack of Arabic actresses, there is also another problem that tends to undersell the entire enterprise: too much of the action takes place in nightclubs. The location sheet for the shoot must have surely read like this: palace, nightclub, desert, nightclub, swimming pool, night club etc., because the amount of nightclub scenes in this movie is over the top and not necessarily in a good way. Once again, you realize Lee Tamahori's debt to a certain gangster movie directed by Brian De Palma in 1983.
So how much, if any, of this is real? That's anyone's guess. There's no question Uday Hussein was a very disturbed psychopathic individual who was capable of pretty much anything imaginable, but how much of his story recounted through the eyes of his so-called double can be relied upon? For all we know Latif Yahia could be a Walter Mitty type who made up the entire tale. But whatever the truth, as a movie, The Devil's Double is not perfect by any means. But it's worth watching for the convincingly unhinged performance by Dominic Cooper.