Masterpiece
Even though if you look at Wikipedia it takes a few liberties with the historical record the performances are uniformly superb. And there's a certain charm in casting an Israeli - Igal Naor and a Iranian - Shohreh Aghdashloo as Saddam and Sajida given Saddam's uncle wrote a book called Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Whom_God_Should_Not_Have_Created:_Persians,_Jews,_and_Flies
I also like the way it is clearly influenced by The Godfather - apparently one of Saddam's favourite films. Indeed of Syria he apparently said that "the weak brother, Fredo, took over" when Bashar took over. So "The Godfather" is apparently the paradigm by which he views Arab politics.
And actually it covers the notorious April Glaspie meeting rather well. Glaspie was summoned to meet Saddam and didn't have time to contact Washington. So she repeated the standard State Department mantra that the US "takes no position on sovereignty but has an interest in seeing disputes solved peacefully".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Glaspie#Retrospective_views
[Glaspie] took the straight American line, which is we do not take positions on border disputes between friendly countries. That's standard. That's what you always say. You would not have said, 'Mr. President, if you really are considering invading Kuwait, by God, we'll bring down the wrath of God on your palaces, and on your country, and you'll all be destroyed.' She wouldn't say that, nor would I. Neither would any diplomat.
Saddam misinterprets this - but look at the way that Tariq Aziz says "these things are always difficult to read" and points out the second part of the mantra about peaceful resolution.
The one thing I don't really like is the portrayal of Qusay. Sure he wasn't the psycho thug that Uday was. But he was a secret police type and not anywhere near as benign as he was portrayed. He also acted as enabler for Uday's raping and murdering.
Though despite all that I still like the interplay between Uday and Qusay in this. share