The Devil's Double (2011)
Directed by Lee Tamahori
A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein's sadistic son.
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3 films that influenced The Devil's Double
What critics say influenced The Devil's Double
There's a one-note love affair between Latif and Oday's favorite girl, Sarrab (Ludvine Sagnier), that feels ripped directly from De Palma's Scarface , holding even less weight than the Pacino/Pfeiffer sordid affair.
A curious concoction of Borat, Scarface and CNN, The Devil's Double makes a decent stab of translating the menacing and macabre tale of Iraqi mentalist Uday Hussein and his doppelganger to the big screen.
Man, it was like Scarface in the desert over there, a real Baghdad and Gomorrah.
The many comparisons to Al Pacino’s mook-to-mobster transformation in Scarface that have been made since The Devil’s Double premiered at Sundance in January may seem obvious, but the truth of them is undeniable.
The filmmakers may be aiming higher, but "The Devil's Double" plays like a lurid exploitation picture — and brings to mind, not in a good way, the Al Pacino "Scarface" and the notorious "Caligula" with Malcolm MacDowell in the title role.
"The Devil's Double" one-sheet is solid gold, from the enthroned " Scarface "-style gangsta -- big gun erect in each fist, legs spread wide to center-stage his manhood -- to the palatial digs that surround this caricature of machismo.
As Sarrab, Ludivine Sagnier (2003's " Peter Pan ") is an eye-catcher, sexy but with a depth and longing to back it up.
And the director who made his bones drawing extraordinary portraits of masculinity from actors -- Temuera Harrison  (" Once Were Warriors "), Nick Nolte (" Mulholland Falls "), Anthony Hopkins  and Alec Baldwin  (" The Edge ") -- must have had something to do with Dominic Cooper 's breakout performances here.