HBO, "The House of Saddam" tonight.

[Cleita]

http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/923839.html

Review of HBO’s ‘House of Saddam’

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
New York Times News Service

It’s a festive lunch at home with the children, but Saddam Hussein’s henchmen won’t stop talking about work. The deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz (Makram J. Khoury), a napkin tucked into his collar to protect his shirt, frets about the United Nations’ reaction to his government’s use of chemical weapons in northern Iraq.
“They are calling it genocide,” he says primly.

“All because I killed a few Kurds?” the defense minister, Ali Hassan al-Majid (Uri Gavriel) — also known as Chemical Ali — replies, his mouth still full. His nephew, who is married to the president’s daughter, leans in and says with a smirk, “No, because you enjoyed it.”

The lady of the house is annoyed. Sajida (Shohreh Aghdashloo) turns to her husband and says reproachfully, “This was supposed to be a family occasion.”

“House of Saddam,” a four-part miniseries that begins Sunday on HBO, goes deep inside the presidential palace to depict Hussein’s rise to power and his fall — through a gallows trapdoor. It’s not a sympathetic portrait, of course; it is an intimate close-up of a paranoid tyrant who relied on family ties — brothers, sons-in-law, cousins and intermarriage — to stay in power and keep his country in check.

Anybody else watching? It looks like it might be very interesting.

[camera obscura]

1. Don't have HBO, but I'll definitely find a way to watch it, looks really good

[jonnyblitz]

2. it showed on the BBC this summer so...

all 4 episodes have been on the torrent sites for some time.

[pacalo]

3. Hubby & I plan to watch it, but we'll wait until all 4 parts are available.

Hubby gets impatient with mini-series formats, so thank goodness for dvr's.

Should be interesting -- the article says the movie concentrates only on Sadaam's point of view & will remind us of both the Sopranos & The Godfather.

[Cleita]

4. So far it's pretty chilling.

What it's like to live in a repressive environment.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. I saw it on the BBC - it's excellent

Yes, there's a lot like The Godfather in it - about family, whether they trust outsiders, whether those who marry in are trusted, and so on. And the occasional bit of psychopathic violence.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. It was an interesting story...

...but I occasinally felt like the overacting was a bit much. On the other hand, if you're gonna play Saddam, you're gonna chew up some scenery.