House Of Saddam
BBC/HBO
Decent attempt to make some sense of the Saddam Hussein era, with a four-part drama that plays like the Sopranos with more sand.
The cast includes Igal Naor (Rendition, Munich) as Saddam Hussein, Shohreh Aghdashloo (24, House Of Sand And Fog) as Saddam's wife Sajida, Philip Arditi (10 Days To War) as Saddam's oldest son Uday, Said Taghmaoui (Vantage Point, The Kite Runner, La Haine) as Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim, and Christine Stephen-Daly (Casualty, Cutting It) as Saddam's mistress Samira.
With occasional glimpses of the real Saddam in period news footage, you get a sense of what was going on behind the CNN image. LIke the Sopranos, or even the Corleones, life with someone like Saddam is like life in a volatile feudal court - you never know if you're about to be handed a great new job, or shot in cold blood to make a point.
The history's handled well, taking us back to the roots of the first Gulf War and the first President Bush, before bringing us up to date by the final ep. Noar doesn't play him sympathetically, but does a good job of essaying his obvious charisma and showing the kind of drive he must have had to become President. Occasionally feels like they've perhaps made them all a little more eloquent than they might have been just to get some great lines in, but on the whole it's an intriguing, convincing portrait of one of the world's most recent political monsters.
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30th Jul 2008 - Tumblr
3.5