A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to impersonate his equally evil son.
An eyeopener at Berlin, 2011, in the Panorama section, was "The Devil's Double" by New Zealand director Lee Tamahori. The setting is Baghdad at the beginning of the nineties and the devil in question is Uday Hussein, murderously depraved and psychotic son of dictator Saddam Hussein. Since he is universally hated and in constant fear of assassination he needs to have a double to stand in for him in public. The perfect look-alike double turns out to be Latif, a Kurd who is pressed into life of dangerous luxury with full access to Uday's harem -- but only when his family is threatened. English actor Dominic Cooper (32) plays both roles in perfect counterpoint and is likely to go big-time after thus, if the film is not shunned for its extremely dim view of an Islamic society and implicit approval of Bush's Gulf War against which he film is set.
Geographically the location of the shoot was the Mediterraneum Isle of Malta the only country in Europe where a variety of Arabic is the official language. Fifty two year old Australian actor Philip Quast delivers a nearly credible Saddam Hussein when called upon and bosomy French actress Ludivine Sagnier provides the love interest, what there is of it.
An eyeopener at Berlin, 2011, in the Panorama section, was "The Devil's Double" by New Zealand director Lee Tamahori. The setting is Baghdad at the beginning of the nineties and the devil in question is Uday Hussein, murderously depraved and psychotic son of dictator Saddam Hussein. Since he is universally hated and in constant fear of assassination he needs to have a double to stand in for him in public. The perfect look-alike double turns out to be Latif, a Kurd who is pressed into life of dangerous luxury with full access to Uday's harem -- but only when his family is threatened. English actor Dominic Cooper (32) plays both roles in perfect counterpoint and is likely to go big-time after thus, if the film is not shunned for its extremely dim view of an Islamic society and implicit approval of Bush's Gulf War against which he film is set.
Geographically the location of the shoot was the Mediterraneum Isle of Malta the only country in Europe where a variety of Arabic is the official language. Fifty two year old Australian actor Philip Quast delivers a nearly credible Saddam Hussein when called upon and bosomy French actress Ludivine Sagnier provides the love interest, what there is of it.