Uncle Saddam


Title: Uncle Saddam
Rating: 2.5/5
Genre: Documentary
Director: Joel Soler
Release Date: 2000

When my interest in history or politics emerges I am more than aware that the majority of sources at my disposal are biased in favour of the West. Certainly true of today, there is no love for the man who ruled over Iraq with an iron fist but of importance to me was the date this film was released, before the American occupation and – I had hoped – before the media frenzy vilifying him as a demon to be destroyed. Sadly this was not to be the case, and it would appear that no effort was made to disguise the directors disgust for the man but even in his biased style of documenting, he can't escape from displaying the facts about the man and his lifestyle, never getting distracted by the politics he was involved with.

Instead much of the film focusses on his large dysfunctional family, quickly getting highly confusing as you uncover which brother married his step-sister who was widowed thanks to which cousin and so on, from “Chemical Ali” to his son's hopeful rise as right hand man until an assassination attempt left him hospitalised all in an attempt to inherit his fortune. What was far more interesting – but sadly glossed over – was his early years, an upbringing on a small farm where his mother denied him schooling, forcing him to escape to his uncles who would allow him an education, or the actual state of the country and what was done to improve its situation. Instead all we are given is a quick glimpse at an old children's hospital he built, now dilapidated and allowed to reach appalling conditions with little help from the UN trade embargo denying basic medicine.

I still can't entirely decide which camp I'm on; whether he was a genuinely despicable and evil man, or simply all too human, having been corrupted by power and greed as many in a position of total authority succumb to. A man in a position to offer his family work at his side (despite knowing there were better suited individuals) who all too quickly lost touch with the desperate plight of his citizens. Unquestionably he was not fit to run the country – but then who is? - but many whom he could have sanctioned killing were instead placed under house arrest and allowed to live, many of the worst atrocities he is attributed with were performed by his family as they feuded for his praise in the hopes of one day inheriting his wealth and power, and when the first US bombs fell it was Saddam who opened all his private palaces for the citizens to safely shelter. He may have been greedy, egotistical and detached from his people, but I'm not prepared to justify his old status as a threat to the world just yet.


Yes Saddam, you do.

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