House of Saddam

House of Saddam
title card
Genre	Drama
Produced by	Alex Holmes Hilary Salmon Steve Lightfoot
Written by	Alex Holmes Stephen Butchard Sally El Hosaini
Starring	Yigal Naor Shohreh Aghdashloo Philip Arditti Amr Waked Said Taghmaoui Christine Stephen-Daly
Music by	Samuel Sim
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Original run	02012-07-30 July 30 – August 20, 2008 (2008-08-20)
Running time	60 minutes, each episode.
No. of episodes	4

House of Saddam is a 2008 drama that charts the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein. A co-production between BBC Television and HBO Films, the series was first broadcast on BBC Two (in the United Kingdom) in four parts between 30 July and 20 August 2008. The mini-series has been very well received across the Arab world.

Reception

Reviews

The first episode was very widely reviewed in the UK. The Independent newspaper described the drama as "The Sopranos with Scud missiles", adding that it was good entertainment but that it seemed to gloss over early US and British support for Saddam's regime. Nancy Banks Smith of The Guardian also compared it to The Sopranos ("without the jokes"), but judged it to be "an extraordinarily ambitious attempt and it succeeds very well". Tim Teeman in The Times described it as "convincing and chilling... It was soap (the feeling of Dallas was heightened by the late-1970s/early-1980s tacky glam: check out Saddam's glass lift), it was reality, it was cheeky and it was terrifying." Serena Davis of The Daily Telegraph objected to some "clunking" expository dialogue explaining political events, but was impressed that "Naor's towering version of the dictator envisioned him as both adept family schemer and political giant."

Ratings

United Kingdom

• Part I (BBC Two 2008-07-30): 2.7 million viewers (13% audience share).
• Part II (BBC Two 2008-08-06): 2.3 million viewers (11% audience share).
• Part III (BBC Two 2008-08-13): 1.8 million viewers (8% audience share).
• Part IV (BBC Two 2008-08-20): 1.5 million viewers (6% audience share).

United States

HBO miniseries House of Saddam attracted approximately 1.1 Million viewers on its debut.^{[citation needed]}

Australia

House of Saddam screened in 2009 on Showcase through Foxtel, Optus TV and Austar.

Episodes

Part I

A pre-title sequence is set in March 2003, showing Saddam watching the broadcast of President George W. Bush's ultimatum to leave Iraq within forty-eight hours. As the bombing of Baghdad commences, Saddam and his family flee the presidential palace.

1979: Shortly after the Iranian Revolution, Iraqi vice president Saddam Hussein fears the increasing influence of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, President of Iraq, proposed union with Syria. Saddam instigates the overthrow of President al-Bakr. After being appointed president, Saddam orders his half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, to initiate a bloody purge of the Ba'ath Party leadership in order to wipe out "traitors". Saddam himself executes his closest friend and ally, Adnan Hamdani, as a show of strength. The Islamic Dawa Party rocks Baghdad with a series of terrorist attacks while Saddam is on a hunting trip in Tikrit with his wife Sajida Talfah and son Uday.

Saddam attempts to maintain good relations with the United States as he declares war on Iran. Meanwhile, he begins an affair with married school teacher Samira Shahbandar. Saddam orders the execution of two Iraqi generals after a military defeat at Khorramshahr, and turns against Barzan following the death of their mother; this puts the arranged marriage of Raghad, Saddam's daughter, and Mohammed, Barzan's son, in jeopardy. After Saddam survives an assassination attempt in the Dawa stronghold of Dujail, Barzan fears for his own life and razes the city in retribution. Saddam exiles Barzan to Switzerland and marries Raghad to Hussein Kamel al-Majid, forming an alliance with the al-Majid clan. Hussein Kamel takes over Barzan's post and becomes the new leader of the Special Republican Guard.

Part II

1988: As the war with Iran ends, Saddam's unstable son Uday fires a gun in a Baghdad nightclub. Meanwhile, Saddam himself declares victory over Iran, even though Iraq has suffered heavy losses and is facing bankruptcy; the Iraqi economy is also being hampered by Kuwait, which is over-producing oil and driving down its price. Sajida learns that Saddam has married Samira as a second wife, and blames his trusted valet, Kamel Hana Gegeo, for assisting their affair. Uday almost kills the valet for the sake of his mother's honour, sparing him only so that he can control him when he succeeds his father.

Meanwhile, Hussein Kamel, spotting an opportunity to rise within Saddam's inner circle, begins to sow mistrust between Saddam and his popular brother-in-law, General Adnan. Saddam's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, travels to an OPEC meeting in Geneva and reveals that Kuwait has been slant drilling into Iraqi oil fields, demanding that the Kuwaitis cease.

Not long after drunkenly sharing his concerns with brother Qusay that any children Saddam has with new wife Samira could jeopardise his status as rightful heir, Uday confronts Kamel Hana again at a late night party and beats him to death to the horror of witnesses. Saddam has him arrested and almost kills his first-born son in his cell. Adnan calls into question the ability of Uday to lead Iraq when his time comes, but is not supported by Hussein Kamel, who continues to gain Saddam's trust. Not long after, Adnan is killed in a suspicious helicopter explosion. Sajida confronts Saddam about the death of her brother but he dismisses her with claims that it was merely an accident.

1990-1991: Saddam meets with the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie and takes her statement of "No Opinion" as giving him to go ahead for the invasion of Kuwait but then U.S. President George H.W. Bush immediately decries the action and organizes a coalition of 34 nations to drive out Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Saddam refuses to back down and is forced to move between safe-houses as the Persian Gulf War commences with the bombing of Baghdad by the US-led coalition air forces. The Iraqi army is quickly forced into retreat as the coalition unleashes its ground offensive to free Kuwait but the Americans declare a ceasefire and withdraw from the Iraqi border leaving Saddam defiant.

Part III

1995: Iraq has survived the Persian Gulf War but is crippled economically, with the UN refusing to lift sanctions unless the government co-operate with their weapons inspectors to dismantle the country's weapons of mass destruction. Saddam states he has nothing to hide resulting in a stand-off between him and chief UN weapons inspector, Rolf Ekeus.

Despite this, Saddam shows more concern in tracing his roots. He ignores Qusay, who tries to warn him about Uday's erratic behaviour. Instead, he presents their family tree and the "proof" that they are direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad. Qusay is clearly worried about his father's state of mind but quietly leaves him to his devices.

The rivalry between General Hussein Kamel and Uday swiftly goes out of control, as the erratic son of the president humiliates Hussein Kamel by pelting him with food at a dinner with Saddam's closest allies. The frustrated General states his disillusionment with Saddam's regime that allows the spoiled Uday to run wild, unable to be reined in by anyone. His patience ends when Uday hijacks a shipment of medical supplies that he was intending to sell with his brother Saddam Kamel. Hussein Kamel tells his brother about his plan to oust Saddam by co-operating with UN inspector Ekeus as well as the CIA, whom Hussein Kamel hopes will topple Saddam and allow him to become the new president of Iraq.

During a holiday celebrating Iraq's "victory" over Iran, Hussein and Saddam Kamel make the trip over the border to Jordan taking their wives - Saddam Hussein's daughters, Raghad and Rana - who warn their husbands of what their father would do if he ever caught them. At the holiday party, Uday indulges his appetite by raping a waitress. Qusay realises that something is wrong when his sisters fail to appear and warns his father. In Jordan, King Hussein grants the self-exiled group asylum just as Saddam declares them traitors in Iraq. Hussein Kamel plans to oust Saddam with Western co-operation and to ingratiate himself with the West by revealing state secrets. His plans are undermined when Saddam decides to reveal all the information himself. The Kamel brothers are increasingly isolated in Jordan and begin to lose the support of the King and their CIA contacts. Saddam asks Sajida to talk their daughters into coming back to Iraq, promising her that they would be safe upon their return. Sajida calls her daughters in Jordan. Later, Saddam phones Hussein Kamel and offers him and his brother a pardon if they return with their wives to Iraq. Believing he will be forgiven, and disturbed by his increasing loss of social status, Hussein Kamel and the others to return, despite warnings from their wives that if they returned, they would not be forgiven.

Hussein and Saddam Kamel are met by Uday and Qusay, who humiliate them by forcing them to divorce their wives and stripping them of their Iraqi military uniforms and ranks. However they allow them to return to their family home, while Raghad and Rana go to their mother's house. Saddam Hussein then tells General Ali Hassan al-Majid that the honor of the al-Majid clan will be tainted as long as the pair are unpunished. Ali surrounds the brothers' house with troops and offers the brothers weapons so that they can die fighting. In a pitched battle Hussein and Saddam Kamel are killed.

Part IV

2003: Saddam along with sons Uday and Qusay and Tariq Aziz watch television reports of the US-led coalition forces invasion of Iraq. Qusay seizes Saddam's bullion and dollars and euros in cash from the Central Bank of Iraq as his father has ordered him to do so. Meanwhile, Saddam orders his troops, particularly those from the elite Republican Guard to fiercely resist the US-led coalition forces. Soon, Saddam met Uday and Qusay in a restaurant in northern Baghdad and advised Qusay himself to take care of his elder brother, who have commanded his paramilitary Fedayeen forces in aiding the resistance. The two left the restaurant as the whole city was being bombed from the air. Saddam, soon also left the restaurant with his driver. On April 9, US forces took over Baghdad. Saddam was now no longer in power. As US troops begin a widescale hunt for the former Iraqi president, his family and henchmen, Saddam flees to rural Tikrit where he is forced to go underground with his loyal confidants. He phones Samira from a call box and tells her to leave for Lebanon, for that he will not join her. With a few loyal bodyguards Saddam hides out in a rustic building. He makes friends with Ahmed, a lively local boy who initially does not know who he is. He insists that the Iraqi people should continue to resist, and broadcasts his messages from his hideout. His first wife Sajida and family anxiously watch events unfold on television.

Uday and Qusay, a bodyguard, and Qusay's son Mustapha take refuge at a house in Mosul. Uday wishes to flee across the border, but Qusay treats this suggestion with contempt. Saddam is informed that there is a reward for his family's betrayal, but Saddam insists that Iraqi honor is above bribery. The owner of the house in which Uday and Qusay are hiding resents their presence and betrays them to the Americans, who surround the building. Qusay gives his son a gun and they fight the elements of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division until a rocket attack kills them. Sajida is seen watching in despair the TV report of her sons' deaths.

Saddam is informed of the deaths and makes a secret visit to Uday, Qusay's and Mustapha's graves, laying Iraqi flags on them. He continues to attempt to rally the Iraqi people against the occupying US-led forces, saying that his sons and grandson are heroes of jihad. His bodyguards build a tunnel in which to hide him. One guard is finally captured when he visits his girlfriend. When he fails to return Saddam decides to move on, but young Ahmed warns him that US patrols are everywhere. He offers to hide Saddam, but the ex- Iraqi president refuses to involve him. In Operation Red Dawn, Saddam is captured and taken into custody.

2006: Saddam is subsequently placed on trial for crimes against humanity and in 2006 is sentenced to death by hanging for the killing of 148 Iraqi Shiite Muslims from Dujail, an act committed in retaliation for the assassination attempt against him on 8 July 1982.

Cast

• Yigal Naor as Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq (1979–2003)
• Shohreh Aghdashloo as Sajida Khairallah Talfah, Saddam's first wife
• Philip Arditti as Uday Hussein, Saddam's first son
• Mounir Margoum as Qusay Hussein, Saddam's second son
• Agni Scott as Raghad Hussein, Saddam's eldest daughter
• Shivani Ghai as Rana Hussein, Saddam's second daughter
• Amber Rose Revah as Hala Hussein, Saddam's youngest daughter
• Christine Stephen-Daly as Samira Shahbandar, Saddam's second wife
• Amr Waked as Lieutanant General Hussein Kamel al-Majid, Raghad's husband, Ali Hassan's nephew, later head of the elite Republican Guard and Commander of the Iraqi Army
• Said Taghmaoui as Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother, head of the elite Iraqi Republican Guard
• Uri Gavriel as General Ali Hassan "Chemical Ali" al-Majid, head of Mukhabarat, the Iraqi intelligence Agency and Saddam's cousin
• Said Amadis as General Adnan Khairallah, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Sajida's brother
• Makram Khoury as Tariq Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, foreign minister of Iraq and Saddam's best friend
• Daniel Lundh as Colonel Saddam Kamel al-Majid, Rana's husband, Hussein Kamel's brother, Ali Hassan's nephew
• Akbar Kurtha as Kamel Hana Gegeo, Saddam's personal aide and food-taster
• Jihed Mejrissi as Mohammad Barzan al-Tikriti , Saddam's nephew to half-brother Barzan
• Jacqueline King as April Glaspie, U.S. ambassador to Iraq from 1988 to 1990

External links

• Watch full episodes of House Of Saddam online flash player
• Official Press Release at BBC Press Office
• Saddam drama series for BBC Two at BBC News
• Official HBO site
• House of Saddam at the Internet Movie Database
• [1] Showcase Australia website.