According to IMDB.com: “A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein’s sadistic son.”
I found every minute of this movie compelling. I knew about Uday Hussein so the brutality didn’t shock me (though the explicitness of some of the movie descriptions forced me to look away).
While I was watching the movie, I was thinking, “This is normal male behavior. Many men would act like Uday if they could. They’d have sex with as many beautiful women as possible. They’d rape and torture for the thrill of it.”
According to Wikipedia: “Dr. Latif Yahia al-Salihi , (born June 14, 1964) is an Iraqi born author, blogger, Ph.D in International Law, and former military officer in the Iran-Iraq War. Latif was forcibly recruited to be the body double of Saddam Hussein’s elder son Uday Hussein.”
Here’s a movie review: “Powered by outstanding performances, two by Cooper, the film provides a vividly terrifying, but fascinating look into the inner circles of the Husseins, where’s there’s unbelievable wealth, women, and pure lack of control. Latif undergoes surgery, and dental work. He learns to match Uday’s high-pitched voice and is introduced everywhere as Saddam’s third son, much to the confusion of many. Latif initially resists, but threats of the murder and rape of his entire family coerces him into Uday’s ugly entourage. Sagnier comes into the story as Sarrab, Uday’s favorite lay.”
- Bitchin’ Film Reviews [Blake Griffin]
- TAZ [Christian Ihle] (German)
- Filmlocker [Margus Palu] (Estonian)
- OutNow.CH – Kino (German)
- The Film Stage [Daniel Mecca]
- Twitch [Charles Webb]
- We Got This Covered [Blake Griffin]
- Abus de ciné [Olivier Bachelard] (French)
- CineClandestino.it [Raffaele Meale] (Italian)
- critic.de (German)
- Daily Film Dose [Alan Bacchus]
- Elitisti [Sakari Määttä] (Finnish)
- film-zeit.de [Pressespiegel] (German)
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- The Independent [Geoffrey Macnab]
- Moving Pictures Network [Jeremy Mathews]
- The Wrap [Sharon Waxman]
