The Devil's Double

The Devil's Double (2011) is Lee Tamahori's crime drama, available to watch online on iFILM. In late-1980s Baghdad, soldier Latif Yahia is yanked off the battlefield and forced, on pain of death, to become the body double of Uday Hussein, the dictator's volatile eldest son.

Dominic Cooper carries both parts: Latif, who keeps clutching at his conscience, and Uday, an appetite with no off switch. One man on screen tortures, rapes and kills on a whim while the other stands beside him, unable to step in. Latif gets the palaces, the cars and the bodyguards, and loses his name, his freedom and the right to his own face. Caught between them is Sarrab (Ludivine Sagnier), the prince's mistress, drawn to Latif at lethal risk.

The script draws on the real Latif Yahia's memoir, which makes Uday's grotesque cruelty land even harder. Cooper does the heavy lifting alone, splitting the two men through voice, gaze and the way each one walks. It suits anyone who wants a hard, unsoftened look at absolute power and the people it ruins. Stream The Devil's Double (2011) online on iFILM.