The Devil's Double is a film made about Latif, a man who is used as Saddam Hussein's son Ouday's double. The movie is a production designed to tell the story of how Latif is recruited to become the double for Ouday, who is famous in Baghdad for his violent temper and his lustful playground. Dominic Cooper portrays Ouday and Latif in a double role. He does have the guidance of the real Latif in the making of the movie. The story is a film production which emphasizes the viciousness of Ouday's temper, his extreme abuse of power in his rape of young school girls, a young bride on her wedding day, and the ease with which he shoots people who cross him, including his own father's pimp who he guts on a dinner table in an explosive fury. The film is full of violence, and the moviemakers actually compare the sons of Hussein to the characters Sonny and Michael Corleone of the famous Godfather series.
Ironically, the movie makes much ado about the differences between Ouday and Latif in the bathroom when Ouday compares the size of their gentialia so that one who knows anything about Sonny of the Corleone family, one knows that the film makers are jesting with us when they use this as their criteria for comparison. If I must spell it out I will. Sonny was famous for his huge tool; whereas, Ouday does let us know that Latif has a bigger tool than he has.
f that does not entice you to see the movie, then what the heck, nothing will...except that the obvious is there.
But despite all the love of "cunt" that Ouday has which he announces all the time with his prowling the streets for fresh young innocent virgins to take home to rape, he likewise seemingly able to enjoy the thrill of a night with a transvestite which he describes well to his new found and made brother Latif. Latif is a man who had gone to school with Ouday so that in a special feature of the movie where Latif tells his true story, we learn that even as a schoolboy Ouday was violent, vicious, and cruel. But during the Iran Iraq war, Latif is found and bound to become made to be the double for Ouday. The movie does an excellent job of showing how this was done, but tells a different story from the real on how it actually occurred. The real is far worse than the reel.
There is one snippet of a scene with President George Bush, the former vice-president of the USA, who says that he is not at war with the Iraqi people but is defending the small state of Kuwait. One wonders at whether Bush is not just a bit naive when one is immersed into the lifestyle of the Iraqi's who are suffering under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The movie is a fabrication but does use true stories to develop the story of Latif and his role in being the double for Ouday. It is well done, showing how Ouday would be in one place while Latif was impersonating him in another.
In the special features, Latif does explain how he is rescued by the American CIA who do get him out of Iraq. The movie does use Hollywood style plot lines to give the events of the movie a typical Hollywood ending to satisfy the moviegoers need for a shocking and stunning ending. One must not be fooled by the fact that in most history, only the participants ever know the real truth because this is a movie designed to communicate to its viewers the real cruelty of the Saddam Hussein regime, and how it is such a dominant thread in the fabric of life in the Muslim world.
Human decency and kindness is developed throughout the film despite the horrific tale. There are truly good people who are forced into lifestyles that they cannot avoid. It is an interesting movie that probably is again too full of Hollywood devices to lull the public into seeing the film. But Dominic Cooper is excellent in his portrayal of the two men who are far worse than any actor could ever attempt to imitate or present.
At the end of the film, ,one enjoys the ending...it is truly justified.
I recommend this movie to only those who can stand sadism, cruelty, mental illness of a kind that is incurable except by death, and so while I liked it, I am warning those who like only the gentleness of life, this one is not for you.
Do not miss the special features. They are equally as entertaining and informative as the film itself.
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