Rant/Rave: The Devil's Double

Rant/Rave: The Devil's Double

Today, I embarked on an adventure to a lovely air conditioned theater on the UWS, and settled into watch The Devil's Double. If I'm being totally honest, I have been intrigued for weeks with this movie, largely because Dominic Cooper is incredibly attractive in the role of Latif Yahia (yet not in any way attractive as Uday Hussein). In fact, the first time I saw the trailer for this movie, I walked away from it feeling attracted to Dominic Cooper, and not attracted to the poor sap who signed on to play Saddam Hussein's son. Imagine my surprise when I found out they were the same person. 

Fast forwarding to the present day, I have now seen the movie's trailer countless times, and was looking forward to see how this whole story played out, especially since it's based on a true story. Unfortunately, actually watching the film was not as rewarding as I had hoped. 

For starters, it was often awkward, and made me feel like I should've read Latif Yahia's memoir before I walked into the theater. I can only imagine that people who agree to see the Harry Potter films without first reading the books feel the same way. The story makes sense, but it feels like you're missing out on something. It was as if the minds behind The Devil's Double were rushing to make sure they fit every last piece of information in, and what ensued was a series of forced relationships and strangely truncated scenes. When the main love interest for example, Sarrab (played by Ludivine Sagnier), appears out of nowhere, you're expected to experience some kind of emotional connection between she and Latif after nothing more than a few stolen glances. 

There were also some moments when I had to turn away from what was happening onscreen. I like to pride myself on having a strong stomach and an indifference for violence in movies, but today my limit was undoubtedly tested. Scenes involving torture, senseless murder, and at one point a knife incident that resulted in a man's intestines spilling out pushed me to the brink of what I could tolerate watching. To think that it's based in reality only makes it worse. 

To Dominic Cooper's credit, it was always clear who you were looking at onscreen. When playing Uday, he had a maniacal look in his eyes, and a strange spring in his step that can only come from a life of entitlement. When playing Latif, he was stone-faced, seemingly looking down on all he was surrounded by while acting as Uday's body double. 

When the credits finally rolled after a semi-intense conclusion, I felt conflicted. I was fascinated by the film, but also somewhat disappointed. Yes, I was grateful for the time that I had been given to ogle Dominic Cooper, but largely I felt like there was an inner circle to the movie that I hadn't been invited to. Although I was allowed to see plans (and people) be executed, I never felt fully informed on how these plans were coming together, so when they were carried out, I had no investment in their success.