The Devil’s Double is a 2011 drama film Directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Michael Thomas, Latif Yahia (Novel) starring Dominic Cooper (Latif Yahia / Uday Hussein), Ludivine Sagnier (Sarrab). It was released on January 22, 2011 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and will be released in limited theaters on July 29, 2011 by Lionsgate and Herrick Entertainment.

Based on a gripping, unbelievable true story of money, power and opulent decadence, THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE looks inside the life of a psychopath (Uday Hussein) and the unwilling man who is forced to ‘play him’ (Latif Yahia).  Set in 1980′s and 1990′s Baghdad, we see a life of extreme luxury where nothing is forbidden and everything is available.

From the first scene until the last I was gripped, I found myself laughing at times when normally you wouldn’t, but that was the great thing about it, it is a roller-coaster ride.

Dominic Cooper has to do heavy lifting playing both characters and changing his manner such that we can instantly tell which of them we are supposed to be looking at.  I quickly forgot that while watching “both of them” on screen together was a special effect, and even knowing the “final fate” of Uday (Killed by the US army), the movie had some historically accurate surprises in store for me.

It is not an easy movie. We see some acts of extreme cruelty, and while we are spared the worst of the brutality, it is still rough going. I caught myself twice turning my head away from the screen.

While parts of the story may be hard to watch or (a bit) strange to western sensibilities, I think the film does a magnificent job of bringing home what was there before we destroyed it and gives us a tiny slice of what it might have been like to live under that regime.  I found it powerful, fascinating, and one of this summer’s best films, so far.

- Christophe Chanel