House of Saddam

[catsclaw227]

Did anyone see this HBO show? I have it on my DVR, but no chance to watch it yet.

Is it a documentary? What kind of attitude does it take?

 

[catsclaw227]

OK -- so I just watched this mini-series. Basically, four 1 hour episodes covering his time from just before taking power through being found in the hole by US troops.

Pretty intense, really. I am not sure what attitude the docu-drama took, but he was at times painted as a monster, others as very human and just proud-to-a-fault (especially the end).

 

[Megaton]

This sounds like a really cool thing to profile in a show and I'll have to check it out, I've always been fascinated with these character studies on dictators and how they rose to power.

For those Arrested Development fans out there...I thought this was a show reference at first, haha.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

This sounds like a really cool thing to profile in a show and I'll have to check it out, I've always been fascinated with these character studies on dictators and how they rose to power.

For those Arrested Development fans out there...I thought this was a show reference at first, haha.

It really doesn't cover much about HOW he rose to power, maintained power, and abused power. It's much more about the home life of not just Saddam but of key relatives as well. It really only touches on the political aspects of Saddam's rule to any depth because many of his closest henchmen were family to one degree or another (or because they were NOT family as the case may be.) Because of the shows focus upon the family life as opposed to his political rule it at times gives him a quite sympathetic appearance - right up until he gives someone the royal shaft again or outright has them killed.

I found it a very interesting look at him simply because although it shows (albeit indiretly) that he ultimately deserves no sympathy whatsoever the evil outcomes of some of his choices were motivated not by political views so much as concerns more directly regarding his family.