It was one of the largest manhunts in history. Having been ousted from power following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, the country’s once all-powerful and ruthless leader, went into hiding as an estimated 150,000 troops scoured the land for the individual known as “High-Value Target Number One.”
Incredibly, Hussein evaded capture for almost eight months, famously emerging disheveled and bearded from a tiny purpose-built hole under a flower bed near the town of Tikrit. Three years later, he was hanged.
But who dug the hole for Hussein? Who helped keep him hidden from the U.S. army despite a $25 million reward? In Halkawt Mustafa’s feature doc Hiding Saddam Hussein, the Kurdish/Norwegian filmmaker lets Alaa Namiq tell his incredible story on camera for the first time, explaining how the toppled dictator turned up at his farm unannounced and then spent an incredible 235 days there before he was found.
Incredibly, Hussein evaded capture for almost eight months, famously emerging disheveled and bearded from a tiny purpose-built hole under a flower bed near the town of Tikrit. Three years later, he was hanged.
But who dug the hole for Hussein? Who helped keep him hidden from the U.S. army despite a $25 million reward? In Halkawt Mustafa’s feature doc Hiding Saddam Hussein, the Kurdish/Norwegian filmmaker lets Alaa Namiq tell his incredible story on camera for the first time, explaining how the toppled dictator turned up at his farm unannounced and then spent an incredible 235 days there before he was found.
- 12/1/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Hurt Locker made Kathryn Bigelow the first woman to win a best director Oscar. But some say her new thriller, Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, endorses torture
When Osama bin Laden was killed by Us special forces two years ago, Kathryn Bigelow was deep in preparations for a movie about the failure to capture him during the early stages of the war in Afghanistan. The script, by Mark Boal, was more or less finished; they had scouted locations in Kazakhstan and were preparing to helicopter into Bagram and Jalalabad to see for themselves the terrain they'd be trying to replicate. When news of the death came in, it blew apart the project in such a way, Bigelow says, that any frustration was eclipsed by a sense of being "propelled by history". In fact, she says, "I think our first thought was, 'Well, at least we have a third act.
When Osama bin Laden was killed by Us special forces two years ago, Kathryn Bigelow was deep in preparations for a movie about the failure to capture him during the early stages of the war in Afghanistan. The script, by Mark Boal, was more or less finished; they had scouted locations in Kazakhstan and were preparing to helicopter into Bagram and Jalalabad to see for themselves the terrain they'd be trying to replicate. When news of the death came in, it blew apart the project in such a way, Bigelow says, that any frustration was eclipsed by a sense of being "propelled by history". In fact, she says, "I think our first thought was, 'Well, at least we have a third act.
- 1/12/2013
- by Emma Brockes
- The Guardian - Film News
Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris is known for fearlessly tackling controversy in his films, from Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. which famously chronicles the Forrest Gump-like story of a befuddled but well-meaning Holocaust denier, to Standard Operating Procedure which gives a voice to arguably the world’s most notorious Ugly American, Us Army reservist Lynndie England. With his latest doc, Tabloid, Morris gleefully indulges in frivolity, digging beneath the headlines of a sex-soaked scandal starring an American beauty queen that rocked the United Kingdom in the 1970s…and the results are shocking.
This demented doc centers on Joyce McKinney, a self-proclaimed “incurable romantic” and former Miss Wyoming who became a media sensation after her former lover, Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson, publicly accused her of chloroforming him, kidnapping him, and chaining him to a bed to rape him repeatedly in an ill-conceived attempt...
This demented doc centers on Joyce McKinney, a self-proclaimed “incurable romantic” and former Miss Wyoming who became a media sensation after her former lover, Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson, publicly accused her of chloroforming him, kidnapping him, and chaining him to a bed to rape him repeatedly in an ill-conceived attempt...
- 7/13/2011
- by Kristy Puchko
- The Film Stage
After the release of his Standard Operating Procedures, the director Errol Morris writes me: This movie seems to have incited controversy, almost as if I broke some sort of rule or series of rules. The ultimate mystery is people. They are often mysteries not only to others but to themselves. Almost everyone wants to dismiss the bad apples rather than look at them, as if there is nothing inherently interesting in their stories. Oh well. The words "to themselves" hold the key.
None of the opinions in the film are owned by Morris. They belong to the people on the screen, who actually appear in the infamous photographs from Abu Ghraib. There are a few very brief off-screen questions by Morris ("That was on your birthday?") but they're not penetrating, do not suggest opinions, are the sorts of things any attentive listener would say. Most of the reviews of the film get this right.
None of the opinions in the film are owned by Morris. They belong to the people on the screen, who actually appear in the infamous photographs from Abu Ghraib. There are a few very brief off-screen questions by Morris ("That was on your birthday?") but they're not penetrating, do not suggest opinions, are the sorts of things any attentive listener would say. Most of the reviews of the film get this right.
- 5/17/2008
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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