Movie Review: The Devil's Double

If it wasn't for Comedy Central showing previews of this movie late at night, I would have missed this great movie. It is directed by Lee Tamahori (Muholland Falls, Die Another Day), and is based off of the true story of Latif Yahia. Yahia was forced against his will to be the fiday (body double) of Uday Hussein, the son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Uday Hussein was the embodiment of evil, the man lived to terrorize, torture, rape and destroy.

Latif had actually met Uday in school at age 15 and many thought they looked alike. At 23, during the Iran-Iraq War, Latif was brought into the Presidential Palace and requested to be the fiday of Uday, since Stalin and Saddam also had body doubles to trick would-be assassins. At first, Latif refused and was imprisoned. After his release, he reluctantly agreed to his new role. From then on up into Desert Storm, Latif witnessed much of the carnage firsthand. He would eventually escape and wrote about his experiences in 1997 (I was Saddam's Son), but the story would go ignored up until the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003. Latif would later publish The Devil's Double in June of 2003.

Uday Hussein, alongside his brother Qusay, were gunned down in a 4 hour battle by a combined team of Task Force 20 and 1o1st Airborne a month later.

The movie was very good, it was very violent, brutal and grizzly. It took a controversial subject and made it into the story of how Latif was forced to live in the shadow of a monster. English actor Dominic Cooper did a great job portraying both men and showed his versatility as an actor. I'm not sure if it will be up for any Academy Awards next spring, but I feel it should be.

I've seen only a few movies set in Iraq, such as Three Kings, Jarhead and The Hurt Locker. All three movies were good, but they had been from an American perspective. And from what I remember from history class, Desert Storm had been a cake walk for American forces. The Devil's Double is the first movie that truly put me into Iraq, and it was anything but a cakewalk for me. I had only read about the horror of the Hussein family and the warfare, but it wasn't until this movie that I completely understood what had happened.

Anything further on how I feel about Saddam Hussein, Uday Hussein and the War in Iraq will have to be saved for another article on another blog. But after this movie, I am glad to know that Uday Hussein is no longer on this Earth to terrorize the Iraqi people.

I would highly recommend this movie, but it is not for the feint of heart. I would also recommend the books, but it appears they are out of print and are considered collector's items. The real Latif Yahia does have a website and blog.