Seeing is believing. Or is it?

The movie devil’s double is about the body double (Latif Yahiya) of Uday Hussein, the first son of Saddam Hussein who ruled Iraq.

Latif is a classmate of Uday and is popular in school for having a close resemblance to him. After school, he joins the Iraqi army and serves in the war with Iran. One day, Uday invites him and asks him to be his body double. Latif refuses. Uday imprisons Latif, tortures him and threatens his family with murder and rape.

Latif eventually yields and agrees. He learns to speak and act like Uday and undergoes plastic surgery to look more like him. Once the training is complete, he poses as Uday at official events and even survives a few assassination attempts. In the mean time Uday indulges in drugs and women in the safety of the palace and his usual haunts.

This arrangement continues till one of Uday’s women takes a liking to Latif. This angers Uday and Latif leaves Iraq to escape his wrath. But the many injustices of Uday haunt him and he returns to Iraq to kill him. Though the attempt fails, Latif maims Uday and escapes Iraq again to settle down in Ireland. The movie ends here.

Latif is not a fictional character but a real person and author of several books on his life as Uday’s double. Leading publications have interviewed and published his story several times. But two journalists, Eoin Butler and Ed Caesar tried to verify his claims found several loop holes.

First, A CIA case officer who was in Iraq at the time of these events rejects the claim of Uday having a body double or the CIA helping Latif to escape Iraq. (Latif claims he escaped Iraq with assistance from the CIA)

Second, other Iraqi sources who are close to Uday back the CIA operatives claim and add that Latif sometimes impersonated Uday without his knowledge to pick up women and was arrested for this reason.

Third, the plastic surgeon of Sadam Hussein denies operating on Latif or any other Uday look alike during his time there.

Other claims made by Latif remain unverifiable due to the lack of information about Sadam’s regime. But the journalists investigate his life after Iraq to reveal several character flaws.

Latif’s ex-wife who lives in Ireland did not know about him being a body double till after they married. Latif had physically abused her and she has a barring order against him since 2000.

Latif also claims an assassination attempt by Iraqi intelligence in London. But the man who assisted him with legal representation confirms there was no evidence to support Latif’s claim. He adds that Latif is someone who would do anything for money and fame.

Latif for his part defends his claims and points to the details about Uday’s life that he has written about. Something that only a close associate will know.

Uday’s indulgent life style which include several murders and rapes is confirmed by several sources and well documented. Even inside Iraq, his excesses made Saddam unhappy and he lost his position as successor to Saddam to his younger brother Qusay.

It is clear from the investigation that there is considerable room for doubt in the claims made by Latif. While the journalists debunked 3 of his claims, the rest remain unverified. But the movie has immortalized Latif’s life with all his claims and that is the truth movie audiences all over the world will take home with them. Which brings us back to the original question: Is seeing really believing?

Seeing is believing. Or is it?

Further reading