THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE REVEALS INNERMOST SECRETS OF SADDAM HUSSEIN’S BAGHDAD
Some rulers are so nervous about their security that they hire doubles. Saddam Hussein was one, as revealed in The Devil’s Double, directed by Lee Tamahori. But the film is not about Saddam. Instead, the focus in the embellished biopic is a screenplay adaptation of the autobiographical novel translated as I Was Saddam’s Son (1997) by Latif Yahia (with Karl Wendl), who is hired in 1987 to be a stand-in for Usay Hussein, Saddam’s wild son (Dominic Cooper plays both parts). Latif, who has his own life, does not want the part, but Usay threatens to do harm to his family and sees videos of the torture of Iraqi dissidents, so he agrees to submit, including plastic surgery. Although he has access to sumptuous accommodations, beautiful clothes, and other benefits, he has contempt for Usay’s lifestyle of promiscuous sex between snorts of cocaine and swigs of alcohol. On one occasion he steals Usay’s sports car to visit his family, only to discover that guards are posted outside. He is then picked up, tied to a rack, and Usay personally whips him. On one occasion, seated in a room with Saddam’s double (played by Philip Quast) as they both observe Usay’s libertinistic antics, Latif observes that Usay is “insane.” His contempt for Usay increases from the time he is hired, but Latif bides his time until he tries to escape in 1991 with one of Usay’s whores (played by Ludivine Sagnier), who reports his whereabouts but not his plan to assassinate Usay. Then, aiming his revolver at Usay’s private parts, Latif leaves him crippled until he meets his fate in 2003. What happened after the botched assassination attempt is revealed in a title at the end: That Latif is still alive and was last seen in Ireland with a family. After viewing The Devil’s Double, any doubts about the depravity of Baghdad (though filming is in Malta) under Saddam Hussein will be put to rest. The Kuwait War of Saddam Hussein, attributed in the film to rhetoric by Usay, is yet another revealing element in the film. The Devil’s Double merits the Political Film Society’s nomination for best film exposé and best film focused on human rights of 2011. MH
IMMUNITY IS IMPUNITY IN THE WHISTLEBLOWER
Lincoln, Nebraska, police officer Kathy Bolkovac (played by Rachel Weisz) decides to take a lucrative offer as a UN peacekeeper in Bosnia (though filmed in Romania) during 1999 and is soon appalled at how women are treated in the country, where nearly half the men have been killed in the war, leaving orphans, widows, and others desperate to eke out an existence in a war-town country. The early part of the film deals with her motivation to accept the assignment, but when the film ends she has been fired for defending women’s rights. Her success in the prosecution of a wife beaten by her husband results in promotion by Madeleine Rees (played by Lynn Redgrave) to head the Gender Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights unit in Bosnia. What she finds in the choppily edited narrative, based on her autobiography published this year, is that young women are being sold as slaves not just by local officials but also by Americans in the UN mission. Yet all UN officials are immune from prosecution, so she has nowhere to turn but to try somehow to liberate women through raids conducted by sympathetic coworkers. But she is interfering with those involved in human trafficking (2.5 million women yearly, according to a title at the end of the film), who are making thousands of dollars, so her frustration grows along with their desire to boot her out of her assignment. Much of the film is devoted to providing evidence of the criminal conspiracy, from photographs to conditions of captivity to brutal treatment. The Whistleblower, directed by Larysa Kondracki, also merits the Political Film Society’s nomination for best film exposé and best film focused on human rights of 2011. MH