The Devil’s Double

Director Lee Tamahori
Staring Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier and Raad Rawi
Rated MA
Score 6/6

Army Lieutenant Latif Yahia is summoned to Saddam’s palace, he is faced with an impossible request – to be Uday’s ‘fiday’ – his body double, or have his family condemned to death. In a world entrenched in betrayal and corruption, knowing who to trust becomes a matter of life or death for Latif, as he battles to escape from his forced existence.

If you look into things you will find that there are a few people who question Latif Yahia’s claims that he was a body double for Uday Hussein, I just hope that Yahia is not discredited to the point Frank Dux is said to have been. But then again who ever let truth get in truth get in the way of a good story? Despite the obvious and vast social chasm, Iraq actually seemed to be a rather beautiful country (before the subsequent invasions spread out over twenty years).
Dominic Cooper gave a brilliant performance as both Uday Hussein and Latif Yahia. Uday seemed to be a little bi-polar and certainly psychotic, though within the context of the movie if Latif can be seen as an entirely sympathetic character.
Director Lee Tamahori actually did something rather interesting and creative with the story how he used file footage from the first invasion Iraq.

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