19 August,2011 09:41 PM IST | | Suprateek Chatterjee
The Devil's Double
A; Drama, Biopic
Dir: Lee Tamahori
Cast: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi, Philip Quast
Rating:u00a0 ' ' ' 1/2
Dominic Cooper, last seen as Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger, shows hitherto unseen acting chops in The Devil's Double, a preposterously entertaining and appropriately gut-wrenching biopic/drama about Uday Saddam Hussein, the late Iraqi dictator's sadistic youngest son. Cooper plays both Uday and Latif Yahia, a young Iraqi soldier who in real life was made Uday's body double and adopted brother due to their similar looks.
Pulling off a double role isn't an easy task to begin with and a real-life figure doubly so, but Cooper gives one of those rare performances that transcends the shortcomings of the film - and there are a few. His role as Uday has more fireworksu00a0-- comparisons with Al Pacino in Scarface are sure to be madeu00a0-- but it is his portrayal of Latif that is more intriguing. In a fantastic scene, we see the moment where Latif, initially reluctant to be Uday's stand-in but forced to accept his fate after his family is threatened, decides to start acting like the spoilt prince. He looks at himself in the mirror, takes a deep breath and bursts out of his room, gesticulating and frothing at the mouth. In that scene, he achieves the rare feat of deliberately copying his own performance as Uday in an imperfect manner; in other words, he is able to effectively portray a not-so-good actor.
That apart, The Devil's Double is a film that shows greatness in parts, but is let down by Michael Thomas' well-written but fairly shallow script that takes its own liberties when it comes to historical accuracy. The script skews the timeline in terms of certain events depicted and despite its best efforts, ends up giving us a black-and-white picture of Iraq in the late '80s and early '90s.
Director Tamahori, whose handling of the proceedings is otherwise exceptionally good, fails to throw light on to the actual plight of the Iraqi people (there are a couple of montages that depict the Kuwait War and subsequent US military action, but that's it), as well as what it is that makes Uday the monster he is, save for a scene that hints at an Oedipus complex. While the film works on a more superficial level as a linear tale about depravity and debaucheryu00a0-- with scenes that show Uday snorting large amounts of cocaine, kidnapping schoolgirls for sex and raping a bride on her wedding dayu00a0-- it doesn't always affect one on a visceral level.
On the plus side, it boasts of a strong ensemble cast, ranging from Sagnier who plays the tarty Sarrab, Uday's favourite keep, to Philip Quast who plays Saddam Hussein and delivers an extremely subtle and measured performance. Based on the real-life Latif's novel of the same name, The Devil's Double makes for riveting viewing, buoyed by Cooper's stunning performance(s). However, much like its source material, it tells us only one side of the story.
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