House Of Saddam 720p HBO Miniseries
George Bradley
House of Saddam is a 2008 British docudrama television miniseries that charted 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.
1990-1991: Saddam meets with April Glaspie, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and takes her statement of "no opinion" as giving him tacit approval to invade Kuwait. However, President George H. W. Bush immediately decries the action and organizes an international coalition to drive out Saddam's forces. Saddam refuses to back down, and is forced to move between safe-houses as the First Gulf War commences with the U.S.-led bombing of Baghdad. Samira is seriously injured in a car accident during the bombings. The Iraqi Army is quickly forced into retreat as the coalition unleashes its ground offensive. However, the U.S. declares a ceasefire and withdraws from the Iraqi border, leaving Saddam defiant as American bombers drop propaganda leaflets encouraging Iraqis to stand against him.
Once they return to Baghdad, Hussein and Saddam Kamel are humiliated by Uday and Qusay, who force them to divorce their wives and strip them of their Iraqi 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 go unpunished. Ali subsequently surrounds the brothers' house with troops, offering the brothers weapons so that they can die fighting. In a pitched battle, Hussein and Saddam Kamel are killed.
Uday, Qusay and Qusay's son Mustapha take refuge at a house in Mosul. Uday wishes to flee, but Qusay contemptuously refuses. Saddam is informed that there is a monetary reward for his family's betrayal, but he insists that they will not be caught. However, the owner of Uday and Qusay's safehouse betrays them to the Americans, and a large number of 101st Airborne Division troops surround the building with tanks and APCs. After refusing to give themselves up, and exchanging fire with the troops, the Americans fire a rocket at their position and all three are killed. Sajida is distressed to learns of her sons' deaths from TV news.
At the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 60% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5.56/10. The website's critical consensus states, "House of Saddam is anchored by a commanding performance from Igal Naor's, but the miniseries offers shallow insight into the fallen tyrant and the history he helped shape."[1] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[2]
HBO's new miniseries, House of Saddam, chronicles the life of the former Iraqi dictator. Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, who plays Hussein's wife and writer-director Alex Holmes discuss the challenges they faced in portraying the Hussein family
For some, he was a national hero. For most, he was a terrifying tyrant. And for the past two Sundays, HBO gave us an inside look into the life of the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein and his family. House of Saddam is a four-part miniseries that can best be described as entertaining to say the least, and that's precisely the problem. Myself being Syrian-American, I was used to hearing the horrific and jaw-dropping stories of Insane Hussein from my Iraqi friends -- and so I watched with the assumption that the movie documentary would leave me disturbed. Instead, I found myself at times sympathizing with the ruthless leader. I decided to venture out and see if I was the only one who felt this way. I thought it would be interesting to get a first-hand account and response to the documentary by Iraqi-Americans who will never forget the impacts of Saddam's rule on their lives. In an effort to be as objective in nature as possible, I spoke with Iraqi-Americans from different walks of life -- Shiites & Sunnis, Young & Old -- all of whom by the way wanted to remain anonymous.
Now remove this very dark picture from the realm of fantasy and place it in a historical context, and you've got HBO's four-hour miniseries "House of Saddam" (premieres 9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7), in which bellowing tyrant Saddam Hussein seizes power, sniffs out every whiff of dissension within his ranks, and rules with a twitchily paranoid iron fist. Hussein smells opposition everywhere among his trusted friends, throughout his country's populace, in the governing bodies of neighboring countries, in the drawl of a loathed U.S. president, and he doesn't hesitate to do everything in his power to stomp it out. Those who tell him his actions are reckless and ill-considered inevitably end up with a loaded pistol pressed to their temple, begging for their lives and pledging undying loyalty to their malevolent leader.
There is one scene, early in the first hour of the miniseries, that offers a rare look at the ideals that fueled this despot's rise to power. Hussein and his young son are hunting rabbits in the desert, and they stop for a minute on a high perch to take in the vast landscape spread out before them.
But everyone is doomed in this sad tale. And even with plenty of built-in drama, it all plays out in the most predictable manner imaginable. Forget the princess and the guy with the light saber; we just need a few reflective moments and a little stirring dialogue along the way to keep us engaged. Instead, "House of Saddam" is more like a house of horrors, governed by a sadistic but not all that creative maniac. Only a masochist would consider stopping by for a visit.
House of Saddam, a four-hour miniseries that debuts on HBO at 9:00 pm Eastern Time, December 7, 2008, examines the repressive Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the lives of the people who were in his inner circle. It stars Igal Naor (Rendition, Munich) as Saddam and Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) as his cousin and first wife, Sajida Khairallah Tulfah.
ACG: In the miniseries, the Saddam character often makes patriotic declarations about Iraq and seems to genuinely love his country. Shortly before he is captured, he is shown kissing the Iraqi flag. Do you think Saddam came to confuse himself with Iraq and vice versa?
House of Saddam is a 2008 miniseries joint-produced by BBC Television and HBO Films. Described by as "The Sopranos with Scud Missiles," the series chronicles the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein (Igal Naor), but also the lives of his family, which consists of his long-suffering wife Sajidah (Shohreh Aghdashloo), his sons Uday and Qusay (Phillip Arditti and Mounir Margoum), his daughters Raghad, Hana, and Halah (Agni Scott, Shivani Ghai, and Amber Rose Revah), and his mistress Samira (Christine Stephen-Daly), who later becomes his second wife, as well as those in his inner circle.
Shohreh Aghdashloo starred in the BBC/HBO miniseries House of Saddam, in which she portrays Saddam Hussein's wife, Sajida, and for which she won the 2009 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.
Anyone watching HBO's ongoing miniseries "House of Saddam" surely must be struck by the lead actor's resemblance to the late Iraqi dictator. Me? I was struck by something else: his Israeli accent. "Why does Saddam Hussein sound like my old grocer in Jerusalem?" I called out before checking the movie credits online. (Yes, an Israeli, but no, not my grocer.)
Former programming
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