Starting somewhere in the realm of non-fiction, The Devil’s Double has no qualms about spiraling off into a sort of strange historical fantasy of intensely graphic but stylized violence and sexuality. The film features Dominic Cooper pulling double-duty as the insane son of Saddam Hussein, Uday, and the man Uday selected to be his body double and part-time brother, Latif Yahia. What starts as a pot boiler of human desperation transitions into a thriller, and while there are plenty of liberties taken with history and more than a few discrepancies, the visual flair and Cooper’s remarkable performance make The Devil’s Double a wholly enjoyable cinematic experience.
First, what we know to be true: the Hussein legacy is one of extravagance and paranoia, as the tyrannical ruler and his family enjoyed lavish living conditions all while living in constant fear of assassination. Accordingly, they adopted body doubles who, along with cosmetic changes, would alter their mannerisms and speech patterns to mimic their royal employers at the risk of being killed in the line of duty but with the benefit of living a quality of life miles above what they’d have had otherwise. Of course, there were other motivating factors, and all of them were employed to keep Latif in line after he begrudgingly accepts the role of Uday’s double. Leaving his family behind with the agreement that they wouldn’t be harmed, Latif goes to live in the palace, undergoes surgery to become Uday’s twin, and becomes a wallflower to Uday’s bouts of unbridled insanity. Even as Latif chafes underneath Uday’s irresponsibly indulgences, he’s able to stay within the lines until he sets his sights on Uday’s lady friend.
If The Devil’s Double can boast anything at all it’s the layered turn of Dominic Cooper as Uday and Latif. Not only does he succeed in making them easily discernible from one another, as the script calls for Latif to imitate Uday he gives a spot-on take of one character acting as the other. Never once does it feel like Cooper is stretching to differentiate between the two, and save for one hiccup in special effects that don’t quite succeed in pasting Cooper’s face on a stand-in in the one scene where both characters must face the camera side by side, the camera work manipulates the staging in such a way that you’d never think Cooper doesn’t have an identical twin. Cooper elicits all the necessary sympathy from the audience for the plight of Latif, as Uday makes passive and then overt threats against his family’s well-being, but it’s as Uday when he truly mesmerizes. The seductive and clearly bonkers look in his eye that can take over from a more jolly disposition in an instant makes Uday seem ready to snap at any moment, and when he does Cooper lets loose. And it's glorious.
The film trips up in its plotting as questionable gaps in time spring up, probably as a result of editing down the film for time constraints, where Director Lee Tamahori must have thought no one would notice, only he chose them at points that felt hopeless and left the audience wondering how the characters would get out of the predicament. One moment they’re stranded in the middle of nowhere in the wake of a climactic chase with no safe haven in sight, but a cut later they’re approaching a barn – and it’s far too glaring a jump. The editing is a small price to pay however for the aesthetic Tamahori creates for his world of luxury, and the atmosphere of terror that arises from a host who could go batshit crazy at the drop of the hat pervades every frame. Latif never gets to feel any real sense of calm, and neither does the audience. None of this would have worked had Cooper’s portrayal of both men not felt so covered, but his acting and Tamahori’s direction keep the film taut and entertaining.
In the end, the questionable nature of the story’s veracity and exactly where it diverges from actual history just makes it all that much more entertaining. You remind yourself that there were creative additions to the story, but when you don’t know exactly where they are, the premise is enrapturing.
"The Devil's Double" opens July 29, 2011 and is rated R. Action, Biopic, Thriller. Directed by Lee Tamahori. Written by Michael Thomas. Starring Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Philip Quast.
