Uncle Saddam (2000)

Absolutely brilliant

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This movie is very interesting. I do feel that most dictators are very "quirky" and even the American President does have "bunkers of sorts" I do think it is interesting to learn about him and the cultures. The cleaning issues are a very personal thing. Look at Howard Hughes or Sienfeild for that matter. Over all a good watch, but just like Bowling for columbine, And Farenheit 911 you have to take these as mostly opinion biased. The movie unfortunately has that obnoxious feel of a college film because of the stock footage and very aged. This gives it a very good feel, but does not mix with the things he shot on DV very well. All in all i'd have to give it an 8, it's good, i like it, i'd like to own it, but I won't be swallowing this information whole.

Saddam, (Which is the Australian title) was quite a good insight into this psychopath and his rule.It didn't make rethink my opposition to the Iraq war but rather, why the hell did the West support this guy in the first place.The director has done a good job at letting us see how Saddam ran the country into the ground but fails mention how he got the money and the weapons which he used in his atrocities. But then again that isn't the point of the movie.For those who think Bush is a freedom loving person either don't know or care that he is overlooking similar human rights violations occur in Uzebekistan as it has become an ally in the War on terror.

Uncle Saddam (just called "Saddam" here) gives a feel for what it was like to be around the man and what sort of a man this Saddam Hussein was, what he did inside the unfair system of dictatorship with checks and balances absent. This documentary doesn't concentrate a lot on events and history, more on people and places.Saddam seems to be more of a small-time dictator as his country had only 20 million people and the economy wasn't in terribly good shape (I hope it doesn't sound too political to mention the embargoes). The gassing of the Kurds happened in a region under the administration of an ex-taxi driver cousin of Saddam's, who earned the nickname of "Chemical Ali" for his fascination with chemical warfare.Saddam comes across as more of a friendly but highly negligent uncle to his people, at least he acknowledged questions as to why he was building a multi-million dollar resort town in the middle of the desert when the money could be better spent on food and hospitals (although he gave a b_llshit answer).What surprised me the most was the amount of enemies he had put under house arrest when he could have easily done as other dictators do and have them killed. Perhaps he just wasn't that bothered by former members of his inner circle saying bad things about him internationally.I think Saddam's greatest crime was putting himself before his country, I think he enjoyed the perks of being dictator too much and did his country and his people a lot of harm (although it seems in the early days he was fairly active in improving the country).In a post-2003 sense the documentary argues a good case as to the pointlessness of starting the Iraq War just to remove this individual. It seems like a pretty steep price to pay. I do wonder what happened to all those interesting (and expensive) buildings Saddam had his architect design and build, are they all rubble or are they in use by the US army or journalists today?

This documentary is a very compelling and surreal glimpse at the narcissistic and eccentric (former) dictator of Iraq. The movie has a narrow scope. If you watch with an expectation that you will come away with a better understanding of the Iraqi people and their plight, you will be somewhat disappointed. It simply tries to convey the unbridled ego, callous brutality, and campy, over-the-top style around which this sadistic tyrants world revolves.It shows, in part, what can happen when you couple paranoia and absence of personal and financial limits. My mouth was left hanging open through most of the film. I am not going to give any spoilers but the `art' museum and its curator is unbelievable. And describing his family as dysfunctional is the epitome of understatement. It is like crossing the Manson family, Deliverance, and Julius Caesar and adding a healthy dose of crystal meth.It is amazing that the director got the footage he did considering the lengths he went to get what he got. I wish there were more but in some regard I am not certain I could have taken more in one sitting.This is a must see. Evidence that this kind of evil must not be allowed to exist. It would be funny if it were not so horribly true.