Madness as Rationale

British actor Dominic Cooper was so good as Tony Stark’s
father in Captain America that he
suggested a better way for Robert Downey Jr. to play the part. But in playing
Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein in The Devil’s Double, Cooper himself seems to need a role model. It’s a
dual role—the other half being Latif Yahia, the Iraqi man forced to double as
Uday—that Cooper eagerly dives into, yet despite his actorly commitment, both
characters seem superficial.

That’s because the makers of The Devil’s Double ignore the cultural, political and personal creation
of psychotic fascism—and of a quietly acquiescent Iraqi citizen. The film
disastrously focuses on Uday’s outrages and does so without any moral
perspective. “Rape, torture, disembowelment, killing, drinking, drugs and
decadence” is practically the film’s synopsis. Madness is its misjudged
rationale.

Maybe a satirist like Paul Verhoeven could help Cooper pull
this off, but Lee Tamahori doesn’t even bring a director’s commitment. The
images and pacing seem desultory, not even of the weird irony of Olivier
Assayas’ psychotic music video biopic Carlos. Here, “You Spin Me Round” and “Two Tribes” underscore Uday’s
depravity but make shallow commentary. Between Uday’s high-pitched voice and
Latif’s sullen anguish, Cooper acts a lot, but Pacino’s Tony Montana already
hits those points in Scarface.

A better movie would have dropped the double angle and the
warlord sensationalism to pursue a father-son story as in Oliver Stone’s W.. Without such a focus, Cooper is best when there’s a
point to Uday’s rages: “The Age of the Sheiks is over!” and “Who made up this
country? The thieving British. In 1935 they took a pen and drew a line in the
sand.” That’s when some British shame finally sneaks through this basically
shameless movie.

The Devil’s Double

Directed by Lee Tamahori

Running time: 108 min.