HBO and BBC’s collaboration House of Saddam needs little introduction. A miniseries in four parts about one of the world’s most recognizable political figures, Saddam Hussein (Igal Naor), poses a detailed look at life within the dictator’s inner circle. Alex Holmes (Dunkirk) helms the project as director, writer and executive producer. Holmes’ attachment to this project is apparent; he spent several years interviewing anyone whom Saddam had come in contact with in order to create a comprehensive study of the man. While such dedication results in a well written story with engaging performances and commanding cinematography it gets bogged down by the minutia of family and politics so that by the end of the series’ 3 hours and 57 minutes Saddam’s inevitable capture comes as a relief rather than a culmination of preceding events.
Opening on a 2003 televised broadcast of President George Bush addressing the Iraqi people as an ally declaring the imminent demise of Saddam Hussein; the series opens looking through the dictator’s eyes as he watches the announcement while he and his sons, Uday (Phillip Arditti) and Qusay (Mounir Margoum), prepare to go into hiding. Cut to 1979 where Saddam and his comrades quietly bully President Ahmed Hassan to resign from his post and name his tormentor as his successor. The beginning sequence of House of Saddam contains four key human interactions that drive the series: the trust Saddam has in his inner circle, the love and fear that those close to Saddam harbor for him and his dominance over weaker forces.
The film goes on to explore the Iraq/ Iran war where Saddam refuses to back down, declaring, “The Iraqi army does not retreat!” Then Iraq tumbles into bankruptcy from the war and Saddam falls into contention with Kuwait’s oil producers. When he tries to intimidate the oil moguls it plays like a scene between mobsters where machismo takes hold, hostilities build and war begins anew. Then the United Nations’ fruitless weapons inspections begin and it is just a matter of time until the United States enters Iraq on the prowl for Saddam.
House of Saddam resembles a combination of another HBO series, The Sopranos, and Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995). The title alone evokes images of people propped up like cards, unable be effective since fear of execution keeps them from giving their true opinions. Saddam is the ultimate mobster; not only does he command an entire nation but his demanding and highly violent endeavors leave his opposition either dead or fearing for their lives. After Saddam’s domineering, family-oriented mother dies early on in the story he is free of the one person, the matriarch, who could rebuke his actions without consequence, which adds another element of the mob genre along the lines of films like White Heat (1949).
His dictatorship in Iraq resonates globally; his corruption garners a narrative like Nixon that follows the labyrinthine downfall of a president as his hubris leads to complete failure. The film’s elemental link is that while everyone knows the story of Saddam Hussein they cannot help but be fascinated by his larger than life figure and unthinkable actions. Looking at the man behind the terror provides audiences a chance to view his perspective of how events unfolded.
In capturing Saddam, Naor (Rendition, Munich) takes on the challenge of playing a man who is the embodiment of evil and manages to make a man of the tyrant. His presence commands attention in every scene, yet the script doesn’t afford Naor a plethora of dialogue so he’s relegated to glowering in silence for a good portion of the series. This may have proved to be beneficial since when Naor does speak for long sequences his rumbling monotonous voice makes it difficult to pay attention to what he says. However, Naor’s eyes and body language make the character; either as a pillar of silence or a towering inferno, his eyes maintain a captivating intensity.
Other standouts in the piece are Shohreh Aghdashloo (House Of Sand And Fog) who plays Saddam’s first wife, Sajida. Her talent is not fully used in the series; however, Aghdashloo stands out in all her scenes where her emotions are almost tangible to the viewer. In one scene where Saddam arranges a marriage for his eldest daughter, Raghad (Agni Scott), Aghdashloo acutely portrays the conflict of obeying her husband and fear for her daughter’s future. Her husky, rasping voice makes you want to listen closely to everything she says and her soulful chestnut eyes lend themselves to a strong performance.
Amr Waked (Syriana) shines as Hussein Kamel, Saddam’s son in law married to Raghad and Lieutenant General of Iraq’s military. He projects confidence even in the shadow of Iraq’s dictator. Waked plays a character on the rise to the top where he finds success is fleeting; as a star he is untouchable and a twinkle in his eye denotes his self-assuredness, during his downfall Waked portrays a desperate man who will cling to any sparkle of hope just so he doesn’t become “nothing.”
The discussion of the key players in this series must include Holmes and Jim O’Hanlon as directors and Florian Hoffmeister (3° kälter) as cinematographer. The aesthetics and well organized color palette of the film serve as an excellent example of mise en scène; each scene is precisely arranged to elicit a particular mood. Paying attention to the dominant color of each scene allows viewers to sense significant points in the film. House of Saddam is colored predominately beige, which is unsurprisingly the color of Iraq’s landscape: desert. As the story progresses the color scheme shifts to red in times of defiance such as when his mother dies and it turns grey or black in times of distress.
Beige is found many times in Saddam’s opulent palace in the cream colored marble. The scene of Saddam’s mother’s deathbed is shot in front of floor to ceiling red curtains that filter the light while Saddam and his mom are reduced to silhouettes. Another time we see poolside Saddam in a speedo telling his first wife that he is taking a new wife. The cool blue of the water set off by the tan and white architecture sets the scene as breezy and relaxed, everything Saddam appears to be, yet the irony goes down just as smoothly as the end of Saddam and Sajida’s romance.
House of Saddam upholds its place as a docudrama; the tyranny of Saddam Hussein needs no embellishment, yet the series includes so many minor events that hold a faint significance to his reign that you may be overwhelmed in processing all the information. However, the film is worth watching simply for its beautifully captured subject matter.
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