But instead Tamahori (who gave us invisible cars in Die Another Day) opts for a much more popcorn-friendly approach, which often threatens to neuter the moral message at the heart of the tale. The Brit director's capable eye could have added an extra sheen of authenticity that the sensitive subject matter probably deserves.

Greengrass has pedigree in the field and his Iraqi-set thriller Green Zone skillfully weaved fact and fiction within a similar theatre of war.

It doesn't take much to imagine what someone like Paul Greengrass could have done with the script. In other hands, The Devil's Double could have been a markedly different kind of movie. Latif is Uday's puppet, as his master frequently reminds him, both verbally and physically. Latif is inevitably drawn into his double's web of insanity, falling for Uday's 'chosen' girlfriend Sarrab (Mesrine's Ludivine Sagnier), whilst having the perks of being the faux son of a dictator - palaces, supercars, and silk dressing gowns - without the freedom. Latif is stoic and sincere Uday psychotic and sadistic - all teeth and temper. British actor Dominic Cooper, most recently seen as Iron Man's pa Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger, is in nearly every frame of the film, sometimes twice as both Latif and Uday, and it's testament to his skills that you soon forget both characters are played by the same man. With Ray-Bans glued to his face and a Cuban cigar permanently clenched between his teeth, Uday initially seems like a threatening fool with a nasty streak, but this notion is quickly cast aside as the crown prince's violence rapidly escalates, culminating in a shocking wedding scene that lingers long in the mind. Dealt this cruel hand in life, Latif finds out about his master's brutality the hard way, so following some minor cosmetic tweaks, he begins shadowing his evil twin as Uday goes about his twisted ways raping, pillaging and generally being an evil bastard. Uday is part-pantomime villain, part-demented mummy's boy, all-psychopath, and everyone knows it, even his closest advisers. This is a decadent city, with pumping nightclubs, flashy sports cars, and mountains of cocaine - well, it is if you're the son of the reigning dictator anyway. The story is set during the events that led up to the first Gulf War in a Baghdad unrecognizable to those familiar with the dusty war-torn images regularly seen on the news now. Latif Yahia's autobiographical novel The Devil's Double became a bestseller following the 2003 invasion of Iraq which ended – spoiler alert – with the capture of Saddam Hussein and the death of his sons Uday and Qusay in a firefight with a Special Forces Task Force in Mosul. What sounds like an outrageous premise for a film is even more incredible as it's based on a true story.

Infamous for his legendarily short temper, psychotic tendencies, and profligacy for underage girls, Uday is a nasty piece of work who is rightfully afraid of making too many public appearances, so he calls upon his former childhood friend to stand in for him when the situation arises. Fate has dealt this 'fiday' a nasty hand Latif is the spitting image of Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti, Saddam Hussein's eldest son, known by the fearful people of Iraq as the Black Prince, and Uday wants him to act as his public doppelganger/plaything. Summoned from the Iraqi frontline in 1987 to Saddam's pleasure palace, Latif finds himself dealt the most awful of Hobson's choices - become the dictator's son Uday's body double or his family will be killed. The fact-based film's one sheet shows a gilded Dominic Cooper (the film's Devil AND his double) atop a golden throne wielding dual AK-47s, but as his character Latif Yahia finds out the hard way, all that glitters isn't gold.

Saddam hussein capture movie