''The Devil's Double'' is a 2011 English-language Belgian–Dutch film directed by
Lee Tamahori
Warren Lee Tamahori (; born 17 June 1950) is a New Zealand filmmaker best known for directing the 1994 film ''Once Were Warriors'', the 2001 film '' Along Came a Spider'', and 2002's James Bond film ''Die Another Day''.
Upbringing and early career ...
, written by Michael Thomas, and starring
Dominic Cooper
Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show ''Preacher'' (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances in ...
in the dual role of
Uday Hussein
Uday Saddam Hussein ( ar, عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician and the eldest son of Saddam Hussein. He held numerous positions as a sports chairman, military officer and businessman, and was the head ...
and
Latif Yahia
Latif Yahia ( ar, لطيف يحيى, ''Laṭīf Yaḥīa''; born 14 June 1964) is an Iraqi human rights activist, blogger and former lieutenant in the Iran–Iraq War. He is known for being the alleged former body double of Uday Hussein.
Biog ...
. It was released on 22 January 2011 at the
2011 Sundance Film Festival
The 27th annual Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20, 2011 until January 30, 2011 in Park City, Utah, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah.
The festival opened with five screenings, one from each c ...
and was
released in limited theaters on 29 July 2011 by
Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
and Herrick Entertainment.
Plot
In 1987,
Latif Yahia
Latif Yahia ( ar, لطيف يحيى, ''Laṭīf Yaḥīa''; born 14 June 1964) is an Iraqi human rights activist, blogger and former lieutenant in the Iran–Iraq War. He is known for being the alleged former body double of Uday Hussein.
Biog ...
(
Dominic Cooper
Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show ''Preacher'' (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances in ...
), an Iraqi soldier fighting in the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
, is called to become a "''fedai''" ("
body double
In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...
" or
political decoy
A political decoy is a person employed to impersonate a politician, to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on that person's behalf. This can also apply to military figures, or civilians impersonated for political or espionage ...
) for
Uday Hussein
Uday Saddam Hussein ( ar, عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician and the eldest son of Saddam Hussein. He held numerous positions as a sports chairman, military officer and businessman, and was the head ...
(also played by Cooper), the playboy son of Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
(
Philip Quast
Philip Mark Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor and singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category.
He is perhaps best known ...
). Latif comes from an upper-class family and had attended school with Uday, where the other students would remark on their likeness. Latif initially refuses the position. Angered by his refusal, Uday has Latif imprisoned and tortured with Latif ultimately relenting when his family is threatened. Latif undergoes minor cosmetic surgery to perfect his resemblance to Uday and practices emulating the young Hussein's mannerisms and wildly volatile persona. He is given access to all of the luxurious benefits of the Husseins' fortune, including massive palaces, expensive wardrobes and Uday's
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
and various other exotic cars. Latif tries to resist Uday's exorbitant merrymaking and erratic behavior, at one point fleeing a nightclub in another of Uday's Ferraris to attempt to see his family, who believe he has died in the war. However, he is apprehended by Uday's bodyguards and savagely beaten by Uday. After an appearance at a conference with several
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
i leaders, an attempt is made on Uday's (Latif's) life, apparently by a member of a rebel opposition group, possibly a
Kurd ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...
. The real Uday, though, is more concerned with the Kuwaitis, who he believes have been
slant drilling
Directional drilling (or slant drilling) is the practice of drilling non-vertical bores. It can be broken down into four main groups: oilfield directional drilling, utility installation directional drilling, directional boring (horizontal dire ...
into Iraq's
Rumaila oil field
The Rumaila oil field is a super-giant oil field located in southern Iraq, approximately from the Kuwaiti border. Discovered in 1953 by the Basrah Petroleum Company (BPC), an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), the field is e ...
. The
First Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
is launched with Uday proclaiming "The Age of the
Sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
s is over!"
Uday's increasingly violent, sadistic tendencies are displayed when he kidnaps a 14-year-old school girl and forces her to escort him to a party. At the party, based on an actual 1988 celebration honoring Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
's wife
Suzanne, Uday becomes enraged with his father's personal bodyguard
Kamel Hana Gegeo
Kamel Hana Gegeo ( syr, ܟܐܡܠ ܗܢܐ ܓܐܓܘ; ar, كامل حنا ججو) (c. 1960s – 18 October 1988) was an Iraqi Assyrian bodyguard, valet, and food taster of Saddam Hussein. He was murdered by Uday Hussein at a party hosted by Hosni Mu ...
(
Mehmet Ferda
Mem Ferda (born 30 October 1963 in London) is a British actor and film producer of Turkish Cypriot descent.
Biography
Ferda was born in Chelsea, London in 1963 to Turkish Cypriot parents. At the age of six, his mother took him to Cyprus, where ...
). Uday believes Gegeo facilitated an affair between Saddam and
Samira Shahbandar
Samira Shahbandar ( ar, سميرة الشابندر, born 1946) is an Iraqi former doctor and physician. She was the second wife of Saddam Hussein.
Early life
Shahbandar was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1946. Shahbandar was born into an aristocra ...
, which devastated his mother,
Sajida Talfah
Sajida Khairallah Talfah ( ar, ساجدة خير الله طلفاح, Sājidah Khayr Allāh Ṭilfāḥ; born c. 1935) is the widow and cousin of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and mother of two sons ( Uday and Qusay) and three daughters ...
, and he also expresses jealousy at the trust his father places in Kamel Hana. When Gegeo passes sarcastic comments about Uday's sexual advances towards his young victim and drunkenly fires an AK-47 in the air repeatedly, Uday butchers him with an
electric carving knife in front of all of the guests. The next morning, Uday's bodyguards are seen dumping the partially naked, beaten body of the young girl. Saddam, angered by what his son has done, shows up to the hospital where Uday had overdosed on sleeping pills and is beaten and nearly castrated by Saddam. Only the intervention of a doctor saves Uday from nearly being killed. As the Gulf War is in full swing, Latif tries to distance himself from Uday and begins an affair with Sarrab (
Ludivine Sagnier
Ludivine Sagnier (born 3 July 1979) is a French actress and model who has appeared on screen since 1989. She was nominated three times for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for ''Swimming Pool'' (2003), ''Peter Pan'' (2003), and '' A ...
), one of Uday's lovers.
Latif, acting as Uday, is later sent to
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
to rally support among
Republican Guard
A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...
soldiers as
Coalition
A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.
Formation
According to ''A Gui ...
forces have taken control of the war. During the speech, Uday calls his brother from his mother's bedroom, playfully challenging him to tell the difference between Latif and Uday; his brother succinctly replies that he can tell: "He's sober and he's not foaming at the mouth." At Basra, another attempt is made on Latif's life. To Uday's great concern, Latif nearly loses a little finger in the assault, which presumably would mean Uday would have to have his own little finger amputated to maintain their resemblance. Uday angrily shows up at the hospital and threatens to slaughter the entire hospital if they fail to save his finger. Fortunately, the doctors succeed in saving Latif's finger. Afterwards, Uday accompanied by his bodyguards and Latif, crash a wedding where Uday viciously rapes and beats the bride who kills herself right after. Latif, at his breaking point assaults Uday when he shows indifference but is corralled by Uday's guards who threaten to kill him. Uday stops them and gleefully tells Latif "I will never let you go"! Later, Latif is confronted by the father of the young girl Uday killed. Uday eavesdrops on the conversation and is outraged by the man's pleas for "justice" and "compassion." Uday orders Latif to kill the man, but Latif refuses and instead slits his own wrists, to Uday's amusement. He is dumped half-dead on his family's front door where he shocks them with him still being alive. While he recovers, his father tells Latif that no matter what he has done or what happened he is proud of him and trusts him. After Latif recovers, he confronts Uday at his birthday party. The confrontation escalates to a shootout and Latif escapes in Uday's
Mercedes with Sarrab . The two escape to
Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...
, but Sarrab, fearing for her daughter in Iraq, calls Uday begging for the chance to return without being harmed. A would-be assassin sent by Uday just misses shooting Latif almost as soon as they arrive on the island. Angered by Sarrab's carelessness, he washes his hands of her. Uday calls Latif and offers him one final chance to return to Iraq, threatening to kill his father if he refuses. Latif's father encourages him not to return and he is killed.
However, Latif does return to Iraq, not to continue to serve as Uday's double, but rather to kill him, with the help of the man whose bride killed herself after being raped and beaten by Uday on her wedding day. In an adapted version of the attempt on Uday's life made by the
15th Shaaban in 1996, Latif and his partner ambush Uday while he is attempting to lure young girls into his
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
. Although his partner is killed, they manage to wound him severely, including mangling his genitals with a direct shot. One of Uday's bodyguards catches up to Latif as he flees the scene. However the guard, Ali, is one who Latif could have killed as he fled from Uday's birthday party before leaving the country but spared, and the guard extends him the same courtesy.
The film ends by stating that Latif has been a very difficult man to find after these events.
n truth, Latif is readily available to give interviews from his new home in Ireland. Uday was permanently handicapped by the attack but survived until his killing by U.S. forces in 2003.
Cast
*
Dominic Cooper
Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show ''Preacher'' (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances in ...
as
Latif Yahia
Latif Yahia ( ar, لطيف يحيى, ''Laṭīf Yaḥīa''; born 14 June 1964) is an Iraqi human rights activist, blogger and former lieutenant in the Iran–Iraq War. He is known for being the alleged former body double of Uday Hussein.
Biog ...
/
Uday Hussein
Uday Saddam Hussein ( ar, عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician and the eldest son of Saddam Hussein. He held numerous positions as a sports chairman, military officer and businessman, and was the head ...
*
Philip Quast
Philip Mark Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor and singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category.
He is perhaps best known ...
as
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
*
Mem Ferda as Kamel Hana
*
Dar Salim
Dar Salim (born 18 August 1977) is a Danish actor. He received a Bodil Award nomination in the category Best Actor for the film ''Go With Peace, Jamil'' in 2008.
Early life
Dar Salim was born in Baghdad, Iraq. He fled to Denmark as a six-year-ol ...
as Azzam Al-Tikriti
*
Jamie Harding
Jamie Harding (born 12 June 1979) is an English actor best known for his role as 9/11 hijacker Ahmed al-Nami in the 2006 film, '' United 93''.
Early life and career
Harding was born and brought up in London, England to an English father and a ...
as
Qusay Hussein
Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti (or Qusai, ar, قصي صدام حسين; 17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in ...
*
Ludivine Sagnier
Ludivine Sagnier (born 3 July 1979) is a French actress and model who has appeared on screen since 1989. She was nominated three times for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for ''Swimming Pool'' (2003), ''Peter Pan'' (2003), and '' A ...
as Sarrab
*
Mimoun Oaïssa
Mimoun Oaïssa (born 11 March 1975) is a Moroccan-Dutch actor and screenwriter.
Education and career
He was born in Beni Said, Nador Province, Morocco and graduated from Amsterdam Theatre School in 1999 and followed acting lessons abroad. He ...
as Ali
*
Akin Gazi
Akin Gazi (born 15 October 1981) is a British actor.
Life and career
Gazi was born in North London, in 1981, to Turkish Cypriot parents. He attended Queen Mary, University of London studying English and Drama graduating in 2003.
He is married ...
as Saleeh
*
Amrita Acharia
Amrita Acharia ( ne, अमृता आचार्य, also spelled Acharya) is a Norwegian actress of NepaleseUkrainian
origins. She is best known for her roles as Irri in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'' and as Dr. Ruby Walker in the IT ...
as School Girl
* Frida Cauchi as
Sajida Talfah
Sajida Khairallah Talfah ( ar, ساجدة خير الله طلفاح, Sājidah Khayr Allāh Ṭilfāḥ; born c. 1935) is the widow and cousin of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and mother of two sons ( Uday and Qusay) and three daughters ...
* Raad Rawi as Munem
* Khalid Laith as Yassem Al-Helou
* Pano Masti as Said Kammuneh
* Nasser Memarzia as Latif's father
* Tiziana Azzopardi as Latif's sister
*
Abner Fabbro as Soldier
Production
The film was shot in
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
.
Reception
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews. The movie has a 52% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, though much critical acclaim has been given to Dominic Cooper's dual role.
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
awarded it 3.5 out of 5 and said "certainly a fresh perspective on one of the Middle East's most brutal dictators". CinemaBlend.com also awarded it 3.5 out of five and said "and while the film feels deeply flawed, Cooper is worth the price of admission." ''Rockstar Weekly'' awarded the film a positive review, saying "Hats off to director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) for taking a controversial topic and turning it into a masterful film." However, the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' gave the film a negative review, saying "The story of Uday Hussein's body double is relentlessly violent and lurid".
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
awarded the film three out of four stars and said "All due praise to Dominic Cooper. It should have been more."
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
*
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The Devil's Doubleat Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Double
2011 films
2011 thriller drama films
Belgian thriller drama films
Dutch thriller drama films
2010s English-language films
English-language Belgian films
English-language Dutch films
Thriller films based on actual events
Films based on non-fiction books
Films directed by Lee Tamahori
Films set in Iraq
Films set in Baghdad
Films shot in Malta
Films set in the 1980s
Films set in the 1990s
Gulf War films
Iran–Iraq War films
Lionsgate films
Films shot in Jordan
2011 drama films
Cultural depictions of Saddam Hussein