As with all the middle-Eastern dictators (or whichever other terms you deem proper) Saddam Hussein was an enigmatic figure whose endeavors resulted in both till-death followers and sworn enemies. Halkawt Mustafa manages to shed light to the man probably more than ever, by documenting the words of Alaa Namiq, now 50, who hid Saddam for a staggering 235 days before the Americans tracked him down in 2003, executing him three years later. Halkawt Mustafa persuaded Namiq to tell his story for the first time in this startling documentary, which took 10 years to make and was necessarily shrouded in so much secrecy that even the crew did not know the real subject of the film they were making.
Hiding Saddam Hussein is screening at Red Sea Film Festival
Halkawt Mustafa creates an amalgam of a documentary, including a number of different elements, in an approach that works quite well for the film. Of course, the center of focus is Alaa Namiq, and it is easy to say that Mustafa hit bullseye with his choice to have him in the spotlight, since the sheepherder from the small town of Al-Dawr is as charismatic as it can get. Either when highlighting the angst the whole endeavor included, or the way his relationship with Saddam eventually transformed into friendship, either when he is making jokes or crying, Namiq is a true powerhouse who retains interest in the film from beginning to end, just on his own.
Apart from his “performance”, the rest of the cinematic elements included are also rather functionable. The dramatization in particular, and in a true exception to the rule, works quite well, perhaps because Mustafa did not try to have someone acting as Saddam extensively. Furthermore, the fact that these sequences are brief, and actually make it easier to understand what Namiq is saying, also moves in the same direction.
Furthermore, the intrusion ones look quite realistic, while in combination with actual footage (videos and photographs) of the events of the past, result in a rather thorough presentation. Lastly, and thanks to Kjell Vassdal and Anders Hereid's cinematography, and particularly the many drone shots of the area, the documentary also includes a very appealing element that focuses solely on beauty, and provides a welcome relief from the harsh reality of the events narrated.
Mustafa's own editing is another of the movie's traits, with him connecting the plethora of aforementioned elements in the best fashion, crafting a rather thorough story in a way that is both entertaining and allows the 96 minutes of the doc to pass quite swiftly.
“Hiding Saddam Hussein” is an excellent film that manages to go much beyond the limits of the documentary, particularly due to its “protagonist” performance, all the while retaining the informational quintessence of the medium.
