THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE

Belgium, 2011, 108 minutes, Colour.
Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Mimoun Oaissa, Philip Quast.
Directed by Lee Tamahori

Maybe you remember those stories about the dissolute sons of Saddam Hussain. They were rife in the 1990s and re-invigorated at the time of the invasion. Maybe you remember the headlines only but none of the details. That is where this drama comes in. Plenty of details.

With a great deal of news footage of the Iraq- Iran war during the credits, this film anchors its portrait of Uday Saddam Hussain in the historical realities. It also spends some time on the rivalry between Kuwait and Iraq and Iraq's anger at Kuwait and its oil dealings and separation from Iraq. However, with the death of Uday during the early part of the 2003 invasion, the politics of later Iraq are not to the fore.

The film is based on the actual experience of Latif (who, in fact, attended the premiere of the film at the Berlinale). He was at school with Uday and many had noticed the resemblances. After serving in Iran, he was summoned to the palace to be threatened by Uday that he was to become his brother and serve as his double. Saddam Hussain also had his doubles (playing tennis with one of them in a bizarre sequence). Latif is repelled by the completely capricious self-indulgence of Uday (of which we are shown many examples). While Saddam Hussain may have unified Iraq, he allowed a decadent upper class to flourish and a regime that held little respect for accountability (irrespective of weapons of mass destruction).

What makes this film not only interesting (sometimes in a prurient kind of way as we are fascinated by Uday's psychopathic sexuality and violence - his treatment of a 14 year old schoolgirl and of a bride on her wedding day appal us, and Latif), is the presence of British actor, Dominic Cooper. His seriousness as Latif, undergoing the transformation at great personal cost, his attempts at mimicking Uday, especially for morale-boosting at Basra, his conscience, make Latif an admirable character. But Cooper also performs as Uday, squeaky voice, gap-toothed, vain, selfish, deluded, a fascinating monster, and makes him completely credible, especially as the two characters spend a lot of time on screen together.. It is a great tour de force.

The production values are quite lavish. Ludivine Sagnier appears as an ambiguous woman in both men's lives. Philip Quast is Saddam himself.

Uday is a completely repellent character but the film certainly makes you think.

1. Audiences and the history of Iraq? Saddam Hussein, his family, his sons? History?

2. Saddam Hussein and his regime, establishing a united Iraq, the cost? Society in Saddam’s Iraq, western style, luxury and indulgence? Violent and capricious? The military and security?

3. The credits, the sequences from newsreels and television coverage? Iran and Iraq at war, the 1980s? The security of Iraq? The clashes with Kuwait? The oil, the delegations? The Gulf War? The speeches by President Bush, the involvement of the United States?

4. The re-creation of Iraq, of Baghdad in the 80s and 90s? Wealth, luxury? The contrast with the lives of ordinary people? The palaces and details, the contrast with the markets and the streets? The panorama of Iraq? The musical score?

5. The introduction to Latif? In the Iran War, in action, wounded, the sea, the rescue? In the car, being driven to the palace? His curiosity? His treatment, Uday and his arrival? Latif looking in the mirror, Uday appearing? The proposal that he be his brother, his double? The pressure, the threats, especially to Latif’s family? The short time to think about the proposition? The collage of the transformation of Latif into the double of Uday, the physical, the surgery? The psychology?


6. The role of doubles in Iraq, Saddam and his many doubles, meeting the doubles? The tennis match between Saddam and one of his doubles? Uday and the double, Latif going to Basra and speaking, Latif fleeing the country and the rumours that Uday had gone? Uday identifying with Latif? Controlling him?

7. Latif’s life as the brother and double, interactions with people, the background, the clubs, the girls, the fascination with Sarrab? The relationship with her, in love with her? Believing her, her stories about her child and sister, the escape from Iraq, in Malta, her informing Uday, the gun attacks on Latif?

8. Latif and his family, looking at the family from a distance, their being informed that he was dead, a martyr, the spies? His attempting suicide? His being thrown outside his house, the meeting with the family, with his father, his father going to Uday, his father’s death?

9. The character of Uday in himself, childish and capricious, his libido and preoccupation with sex, the parties, cocaine, stripping and dancing? His picking up schoolgirls and dumping them, the fourteen-year-old and her being dumped in the desert? Her father coming to plead? The bride, the celebration of the marriage, Uday picking her out, the sexual encounter, the bride’s suicide? Kuwait, his attitude towards Kuwait and the oil? Gambling, the friendship with the drag queen? Confiding in Latif? Watching Latif on TV at Basra? A character or lack of character?

10. Latif finding this life enough, slashing his wrists, his father and his help, his father’s words on the phone, his leaving Iraq? The escape?

11. Uday and the schoolgirls, Latif and the grieving bridegroom, the attempt on Uday’s life? The previous attempt and the security guards in Kuwait? The guard, his previous encounter with Latif, letting him go? Uday, the shock, his being wounded?

12. The war, the invasion, the news of Uday’s death? The postscript and Latif’s vanishing?

13. The portrait of the state, the portrait of Saddam’s family, lifestyle? Saddam’s character throughout the film, dominant, politics, the doubles, his expectations of his son yet his permissiveness? The other son and his working behind the scenes? The film giving a background to the invasion as well as embodying the characters?