I have seen this movie years ago but at that time I didn’t have this blog site-thing so I wanted to re-watch it and cover a brief analysis of the film as well as a light touch up on my opinion of Saddam Hussein himself. Well, if this movie cover doesn’t simply entice you already, maybe this blog will. So this movie is semi controversial in the sense that it revolves around the story of Latif Yahia played by actor Dominic Cooper. This is a great English translated Scarface style of an Iraqi story even despite English not being a primary language in Iraq, the genius director makes it easy for American viewers to be engaged in this story. This is a story “based on shockingly true events” of body doubles used for leaders like Saddam Hussein and his son Uday Hussein. These body doubles were often found/located and forced into being their face and body to put out on the front lines during campaigns and public speaking. Even as extreme as forced facial structure and teeth changes. This also meant each person that was hand selected to be a body double inherited all of the riches and power of the actual leader they portrayed. They would receive all the power for the press appearance and posses all their clout with just minor restrictions. This was a tough choice to witness as the main character was removed from loved ones and his “normal life”. Once you are a body double you are owned like property but I think anyone could see how this choice would be a no brainer to save our families from tortured death. Basically if you refuse to be one of the Hussein body doubles, they kill your entire family slowly and then kill you last after you watch. Or, if you agree, you must vanish from your family with zero contact to them and live the rest of your life rich and famous as if you are Saddam OR Oday yourself. The problem is, the Hussein family is very strict and tend to kill people who oppose them and have infinite money and power. This was the world of Iraq through the late 1960’s into the 1990’s. Though there is controversy surrounding every exact detail of what was true or not in the movie…it really doesn’t matter because it’s great entertainment to watch a man rule his little toy box he we call Iraq with an Iron Fist. Things that support this movie’s theory in actual life inside Iraq are the fact that when Saddam was actually captured in real life, you can visually still see his actual hanging and his actual courtroom trial. This gives you the true events surrounding how the man reacted to certain death. All of the real videos of Saddam’s trial and execution are disturbing and not humane to even a gutter snake. Remember that the US under the BUSH admin sent troops into Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction which they never found any. That is to say that, whatever we do in our own personal home is up to us? The US went into Saddam’s home of Iraq and kicked his cat and wrestled him into submission in a place he helped build. When you YouTube a slightly younger generation they hate Saddam and have stories of him killing their loved ones or punishing them. However the flip side is OG Iraqi people have interviews of looking at Saddam as a Revolutionary leader who had the guts to maintain order in a chaotic location. Saddam grew up poor and joined political parties where his street smarts and intelligence prevailed even despite his sick and twisted way of getting things done. In the movie you see his dedication to Iraq and it’s structure but they show nothing of his courtroom appearances in the film. In real life, there are video artifacts of Saddam in the court room after being captured shouting at the judge not because he was a baad mutherfucker with no regard for the law, but because they were giving him an unfair trial for political and personal reasons. Beating his attorneys, shielding witnesses behind curtains and not allowing him to speak after removing his attorney. It’s also reported later after his death that the media even silenced the broadcasts when Saddam would shout out his perspective on the case and/or defend himself. There is actual video footage of Saddam getting annoyed that his Defense attorney was beaten and removed while he was silenced and accused of things they couldn’t prove as well as WMD (Weapons of Mass destruction) that they never found. So Saddam continues to shout in the live court room, ” Long live the people, long live the nation, long live Iraq” and he stares mercilessly at the judge with not ounce of fear in his eyes. Even at some point one of his co-defendants came into he court room shouting and pushing off guards yelling in the name of Saddam Hussein as their savior and fearless leader. There has always been a huge divide in love hate for Saddam Hussein as well as his crazy son Oday who often would rape, kill and party in expensive settings to pass the time. Saddam’s son Oday was as like Tony Montana on crack. Oday was constantly avoiding assassination attempts and living it up like a party power house. His son Oday was killed in an 4-5 hour gun battle which lived up to the movie standards. Oday defended his mansion in Iraq while armed guards provided cover. His then son of 14yrs old continued battling even after everyone was killed and shot missiles into the house. The image of who he was as a young evil prince rings 100% true in real life. The movie captures probably the best example of Saddam Hussein judging from actual news footage of the leader. You see just how powerful this family was in it’s time. In truth, Saddam did twisted shit because he felt Iraq was already in a bad spot so he needed to fight evil with evil to make it all work. Even upon his actual capture he warns interrogators that removing him will only make Iraq much worse. He was right on the money as Iraq is one of the top conflict zones to this day with no order or discipline even now. Something the Hussein family constantly tried to enforce daily. When they executed Saddam he went out guns a blaze’n with no fear. Saddam argued he be executed by a firing squad which is where they just line you and shoot you down by like 5 people with machine guns. Yet they decided on a hanging him instead. Saddam in his final moments preparing to drop down on the noose and just looked at all of the watchers and said ‘Do you consider this manhood?!” clearly poking a hole in Iraq’s corrupt process against him. In true events, someone in the crowd is clearly heard screaming “go to hell!” and With a rope around Saddam’s neck preparing to exit the earth, It’s reported that he shouts back, “The HELL that is IRAQ?!” and then he begins to say prayers to Allah saying that god doesn’t exist but that he is basically at peace with his actions. As Saddam Hussein continues to repeat prayers and reinstate “power to his people, power to Iraq” he is cut off mid sentence from the release then drop that makes the rope instantly break his neck without struggle, he is dead. The people in the crowd watching start to stab his deceased body with knives after he is dead. in 2015 his Burial site was burned and trashed in which certain Iraqi people later transported his actual body to make sure it wasn’t compromised. Yes, the Hussein family was terrible and killed many people. However that was his own neighborhood where they were products of their environment like a Scarface movie. Only in Scarface that was a collection of drug lord stories rolled into one fictional story loosely based off real characters. This movie “The Devils Double” is a based off a true story of a man tough as nails who was a necessary evil to Iraq. The US made up a story to invade their country under the false pretense that Saddam wanted to harm the US which was not true. His medical labs, engineering plants, military, nuclear sites etc. were all combed through for investigation. Everyone displaying the same story of Saddam that there was no WMD plants to harm other countries. Now with Saddam gone, Iraq has constant civil wars from chaos and fear of their corrupt government just as Saddam predicted. Check this movie out for a fun theatrical look at something sinister yet relevant to the 2020 US government situation. What would you choose if you had no choice? Your entire family being erased OR the Hussein family honoring you as one of their own into a palace of privileged hell.