La casa de Saddam

This four-part mini-series grips you from the outset. Yigal Naor's portrayal of the young Saddam is brilliant, seizing power brutally but always with a purpose behind his brutality. This contrasts with the mindless, purposeless brutality of his elder son Uday (Philip Arditti), which comes through in the 2nd and 3rd episodes.

The mini-series' structure, taking four key years in Saddam's life over 24 years, is managed extremely effectively, although one consequence is that some of the best-known incidents of his reign of terror have to be omitted.

The character of each family member develops across the episodes and the overall sense of an all-pervading reign of terror comes over very powerfully.

My main criticism is of the final episode, almost elegiac with a mellow Saddam on the run with a consequent loss of tension and momentum. Although I suppose that, as we all know what happened to him right from the start, this is probably inevitable. But well worth watching and superbly acted by everyone.

The first episode of this drama series could have fallen into all the traps that recreations of modern history, and ancient history for that matter, fall into: Glib unrealistic portrayals of character; ridiculous over simplification; and sloppy historical inaccuracies. Alex Holmes with his production team and a brilliant cast avoided this brilliantly in the light of one over-riding handicap they had - All of us have our preconceptions and our own sketchy 'take' on the Saddam sagas presented by the media and by governments over the last 25 years in various forms of uneven levels of factual integrity, political expediency and rigor. Amazingly, despite this, I was able to accept the inevitable economies of scale limiting Holmes and his ingenious team, and was spellbound by the simple exposition of Saddam's corrupt, and corrupting modus operandi. The family dynamic was cleverly integrated with the political backdrop and viewers more interested in the subtext will not be disappointed. A grisly reminder that we have lived through an era when monsters exist within the human race and our world seems to be reluctant to learn from history and be more alert to their ability to operate, and cause tragedy and mayhem while we too often watch and allow them. Great telly too on a straightforward entertainment level.

If viewers are expecting a factual summary of Saddam Hussein's life, they will be disappointed. I'm sure there are better documentaries on the subject. But for pure casting pleasure, I would heartily recommend HoS. Director Jim O'Hanlon has assembled a truly international cast, including celebrated Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (so marvelous in "House of Sand & Fog"), Indian actress Shivani Ghai, and Palestinian actor Makram Khoury (great as Tariq Aziz).

Most impressive is celebrated actor Yigal Naor as Saddam. He exudes the perfect combination of ruthlessness and charm that propelled the tyrant into power. That Hussein is portrayed by a Jew-- and Israeli-born Jew-- is probably sending the old goat into cartwheels. Pure poetic justice!

"House of Saddam" is an excellent dramatisation of Saddam's rule, starting in 1979. With high production standards, excellent performances and truly blood chilling scenes, this is unmissable television.

This four part drama series provides an insight into the world of the Husseins and looks at Saddam's relationships with family, friends, allies and enemies. It appears to be a well researched piece and, despite dramatic licence, you feel you're watching actual events unfold.

9 out of 10. Excellent.

in fact , am watching this drama and writing in the same time. i couldn't wait me and my husband for this to start , we are iraqi and we lived most of our lives under Saddam's regime , this is a good drama about Saddam , it starts when he came to power in 79 , so scary , so unpredictable as he always used to be , we watched him on TV , lived in a country ruled by him , and in this series i am remembering my childhood , and my life in Iraq, i believe this drama is so real offcourse except for the language which is Arabic in reality ,all characters resemble the real ones , with the music and all.

i'll give it 9 starts.