Uncle Saddam

UNCLE SADDAM does not deal with the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran, the invasion of Kuwait, the gas attack on the Iraqi Kurds or the confrontations with the United Nations, but with the megalomaniac behind the self-created myth of Saddam Hussein and the machinations of his dictatorial reign. Director Joel Soler charts Saddam’s personality cult by means of unique footage and interviews with people in his immediate environment, including his cousin, his personal filmmaker and his architect. Saddam lives in twenty-one incredibly luxurious palaces, while his subjects are starving. Suffering from hosophobia, he only allows people to kiss a spot on his jacket beside his armpit. He utters trivial profundities (‘If a woman cannot afford a toothbrush, she should use her finger’) to devoutly attentive associates. He has himself surrounded by unskilled relatives, who fall into disgrace one by one. His unassailable image is held up by an endless series of portraits, an enormous collection of hats and a moustache that is touched up from time to time.