A chilling vision of the house of Saddam. The world of Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was given a choice; either be the double for Saddam's sadistic son, or die.A chilling vision of the house of Saddam. The world of Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was given a choice; either be the double for Saddam's sadistic son, or die.A chilling vision of the house of Saddam. The world of Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was given a choice; either be the double for Saddam's sadistic son, or die.
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But there is a serious drawback when someone watches this movie knowing that at the time of movie release in 2011, the main character and the author, Latif Yahia, was (and still is) glorifying the tyrant and calling on people to re-establish his era in Iraq. He actually has a YouTube channel filled with his political opinions and his shameless strange sympathy to the tyrant!! So whatever the author's claims about his political views, or about his own opinions of not having political views; he was not opposing the tyrant, and still not; he was one of the tyrant's followers and still is.
Now watching the movie knowing that the writer and main character stands there, it will make the audience uncomfortable and cautious to accept what's being told in this movie without questioning.
Aside from that, directing was weak in general, and the story is not as the original Arabic book (I Was A Son For The President), but a revised version of the English edition which was a revised version of the Arabic edition!
For example in the Arabic edition the main character was claimed to be a ranked army officer, in the movie he was just a soldier. In the original story it was claimed that the tyrant saw and examined his son's double for a few times, in the movie that wasn't happening. Now if this was a history book/movie then.. voila! There is a good definition for the person who says what he doesn't think and thinks what he doesn't say, and changes his saying/thoughts 3 times in a day...
The film starts off with Uday hiring a doppleganger of himself (Latif), to pass off as him publicly. Latif, hasn't really a choice, and is portrayed as having some morals, Uday is portrayed as a millionaire playboy, who is a murdering brute who gets off on violence, sodomy and rape. His only redeeming quality is his penchant for 80s British synth pop (?).
The film becomes increasingly outlandish. If it were a true story, then this could have been quite fascinating. I learnt nothing, and by the end had tuned out. It reminded me of the last king of Scotland, which I didn't enjoy either.
I thought it were unnecessary for Cooper to play both the leads. It felt unbelievable as both characters appeared unrealistically identical.
I knew nothing of the back story of Uday, a quick glance at Wikipedia describes him as quite the devil. That much the film gets right. There's some artistic license used at the end of the movie.
According to the film maker, what we saw was in more respects not completely accurate. Some freedom was exercised while portraying the situation in Baghdad at that time. The existence of stand-in's, however, was realistic and publicly known. That went as far as showing them openly, if only to confuse potential attackers. It certainly reduced the risk in public appearances, since one could never know whether you saw the real one, or a double dressed and acting like the real one.
There were also questions about using English as the prime language. The producer had some arguments in favor of the choices made. Firstly, raising a 50M budget for a movie with Arabic speaking actors, was considered a Mission Impossible. Also, English is generally accepted as the standard movie language, spoken by Roman emperors as well as aliens from other planets.
The Q&A also revealed some facts about how Dominic Cooper handled his double role. We now know that he played both roles on the same day, given the entourage and colleague actors present that day. He always played the "lunatic" parts first, and (without much time in between) the "Latif" parts shortly after that. Of course, there was a challenge in keeping track of the places where the counterpart actor stood at particular moments during the scene. Anyway, if he missed a few and looked in a wrong direction at some instances, I did not notice it and I think the same of other people seeing this film for the first time.
At various moments throughout the screening the notion crossed my mind that this movie could be construed as a justification of overturning the Sadam regime, or (in other words) as propaganda in favor of George W for a completed project in Iraq. In retrospect, I don't think such a hidden meaning was intended. The film was not against Sadam as a dictator in particular, but rather against dictators in general. They existed and ruled since the time of the Roman emperors (and probably before that), and still are ruling nowadays in countries all over the world. We see the wrong side effects of unlimited power. We also see how uncooperative people were regarded "that is the thanks we get for uplifting this country" (or variations thereof).
Political issues and hidden meanings set aside, we saw a well constructed story line, believable casting, and an inside view in the palace and its inhabitants at that time. One can argue about the torture, punishment and other violent scenes, that these better could be left out, or otherwise included implicitly by telling about it (without showing actual pictures). On the other hand, leaving these out would change the film too much into a costume drama, thereby reducing the impact it now will have on the average viewer. Anyway, it is easy for us to criticize choices being made by the film makers. In my opinion they did their job very well, all things considered.
Some seem to find fault with this film because it reminds them of Scarface. I don't get that at all. Perhaps they mean that at times it is operatic, over the top, but it is, after all, a biopic about a crazy man, and to me anyway, the parts of the film that deal with the double offset the high drama perfectly. Highly recommended!
The Devil's Double is a "take no prisoners" film that's as hard to watch as it is entertaining. It follows Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper), an Iraqi soldier from an upper class family, who is plucked from the war to act as Uday's double. Uday (also played by Cooper), remembers the comparisons the two would get when they jointly attended grade school. He asks Yahia to be his double - for both political and personal reasons. Like his father, Uday is in a constant state of worry over an assassination attempt. Further, he wants to send Yahia on personal trips that he himself doesn't wish to attend. Yahia, kind and warm, refuses, but is forced to with the threat of harm to his family. Yahia is given cosmetic surgery and dentures to complete the look.
Yahia is thrust into Uday's world. This is a world filled with rape, torture, murder, drugs, sex and money. The lifestyle that the Hussein's live is more than Presidential - it is royal. Immediately, Uday claims Yahia as his own property. Uday has grown into a monster, getting whatever he wants and never having to deal with the consequences. Yahia is who he wants. The atrocities he witnesses because of Uday disgust him, but he is stuck in this nightmare. We watch as Uday preys upon young girls walking home from school. We watch as he guts his father's best friend at a party. We watch Yahia struggle with the lifestyle he is forced to live. Uday's fascination with Yahia grows stronger and it enters your mind that Uday may actually be in love with his double. This doesn't necessarily mean in a romantic way, but because his love of himself is so great, that he sees Yahia as apart of himself.
While the rest, as they say, is history, I certainly don't want to spoil the way the rest of the film plays out. This is a movie that you must see for yourself!
The acting in dual roles by Cooper, his first film as lead, is Oscar worthy. He gives both men their own voices, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, that instantly allow the viewer to tell them apart. Subdued and stoic, Cooper plays Yahia as a guilt ridden man, grappling with the life he has been thrust into. He plays Uday as a manic, hyper madman with a broken smile and a creepy laugh. You literally believe they are two different actors.
Latif is an ordinary man who is thrust into an extraordinary situation. An object of admiration for the President's son, he has no choice but to comply with the excruciating horrors that are put forth before him. Never once, however, do we seem his morals waver.
We know how it ends, but as with life, it's the journey that's important. The Devil's Double is the real life, Middle Eastern Scarface. Powerful, unsettling, thrilling and always entertaining, The Devil's Double, is quite easily one of the best movies of 2011.
From PopCultureWhore.com
Did you know
- TriviaThere is a reference to The Godfather in one of the first scenes where Latif is impersonating Uday. He acts as a double when entering and leaving an important meeting. When he leaves and is shot at by a young boy an orange cart is shown prominently with oranges falling. Oranges were present whenever death occurred or was about to in The Godfather and there was an orange cart featured when Don Corleone was shot at it.
- GoofsIn a lot of car scenes the driver is on the right side, but in Iraq the driver seat is on the left.
- Quotes
Munem: Please be clear about this, Latif. Uday has chosen you. You belong to him. You have about five minutes to think about this. Before a car pulls up outside your house in Al-Adhamiya and your family, everyone one of them - your father, your mother, your sisters and brothers; is thrown into Abu Ghraib. God willing, they will die quickly. I've said too much. You have about two minutes left.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Breakfast: Episode dated 10 August 2011 (2011)
- SoundtracksYou Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
Written by Pete Burns (as Peter Jozzepi Burns), Steve Coy(as Stephen Coy), Mike Percy (as Michael David Percy), Tim Lever (as Timothy John Lever)
Performed by Dead or Alive
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd
Published by Burning Music Ltd (PRS), Westbury Music Ltd
All rights on behalf of Burning Music Ltd
Administered by Warner/Chappell Ltd
All Rights Reserved
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $19,100,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,361,512
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $96,414
- Jul 31, 2011
- Gross worldwide
- $5,728,213
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1