I recommend watching it, but there was a turn in the plot that made me question the veracity of this story. Turns out that the only source of all of this is the guy claiming to have been Uday Hussein's body double himself, either no other outside sources corroborate it, or they deny ever hearing about this guy. When you look at photos of him, he doesn't resemble Uday and it's a little difficult to believe he could pass for him.
It's good entertainment, but I don't think I fully believe in it.
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,386PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,386
Miami, FL USA
Sounds like Uday and Amon Goeth would have gotten along quite well.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
The film may adds a component to the story- maybe for artistic license, but it seems to suggest that he had an incestuous relationship with his mother. After that banquet episode, it shows them in bed together in a way that seems Freudian.
Good movie, seen it a year ago. I agree it's difficult to know what of the story is real and what may have been "embelished". Then again, that's true of most movies depicting "real events".
But it does seem that the Iraqis considered Uday to be a monster, and Saddam to be reasonable by comparison.
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The film's depiction of his escape from Iraq bothered me. He lit out of that party and it's as if they didn't bother to chase him. Just that easy. Here is a guy who is running around with top state secrets, he had access to Uday, Uday's habits, his ideas, whereabouts, security, even knowledge of Saddam's doubles, some of the inner circle of the regime, he would know certain details about the Iraqi government that's probably not made available to the public, and he's just let go pretty easily.
Equally questionable is how he gets back into Iraq and of course he is the guy who permanently wounded Uday in a famous assassination attempt. I guess if I were going to write an extraordinary account, I would write myself in as the person doing that, too. It seems that there is no one able to confirm the story.
I also think he gets away with more backtalk and defiance than he probably would have. Someone who refuses orders and displays obvious contempt for you would obviously indicate a problem- not only is he not serving his purpose, that also tends to forecast someone who could potentially be an enemy later down the road. And I don't think Saddam or his sons tended to let risk accumulate like that.
Even if a work of fiction the film is still pretty good.