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House of Saddam
MINISERIES: HBO, begins Sunday 12/7 at 9:00p
Starring
Igal Naor,
Shohreh Aghdashloo,
Philip Arditti,
Said Taghmaoui,
Christine Stephen-Daly,
Makram J. Khoury,
Mounir Margoum, Agni Scott, Amr Waked, Akbar Kurtha, Said Amadis,
and
Uri Gavriel
The four-hour miniseries dramatizes the period from Saddam's coup in 1979 to his capture in 2003.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama,
History
|
| CREATED BY: |
Alex Holmes
|
| FIRST AIR DATE: |
December 7, 2008 |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
The perspective one gets from inside the House of Saddam is different than media reports from the outside and is, in itself, an important reason to tune in.
80
Washington Post Tom Shales
A chilling and riveting essay on the evils that men do and continue doing, year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium.
80
The New York Times Alessandra Stanley
Made jointly by the BBC and HBO, House of Saddam is well told and often lurid, a saga that blends the dirty work of despotism with the rituals of family gatherings, sibling rivalries and marital discontents.
70
Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd
There are well-written and well-mounted scenes and some good performances. It is not without suspense. But even at four hours, House of Saddam feels incomplete and scattered--a lessened, not a heightened reality.
70
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
House of Saddam offers a fascinating but limited portrait of the Iraqi tyrant.
67
Time James Poniewozik
It's a refreshing take and an interesting effort, if finally not quite a compelling one.
67
Entertainment Weekly Clark Collis
House plays like an edition of PBS' Frontline with actors.
60
Slate Troy Patterson
The production's appeal is all on the surfaces--in a moment where a killer's image is reflected in a fresh pool of blood, say, or a megalomaniac catches his own eye in the mirror.
50
Salon Heather Havrilesky
Witnessing every ugly twist in Hussein's long and arduous path to self-destruction is more grueling than you'd expect, in part because this script doesn't paint Hussein in very many shades other than the pitch black of pure evil.
50
PopMatters Cynthia Fuchs
For its part, House of Saddam provides little insight into Saddam Hussein. Instead, it repeats truisms about well-reported events, many of them best remembered as TV images.
50
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
The style of the telling--heavy and, ultimately, hollow--perfectly matches the substance of the story. But of course that lugubrious style makes House of Saddam a slog, even while it is precisely paced and seamlessly directed.
40
Variety Brian Lowry
Beyond snapshots of his quarter-century of tyranny, though, there's precious little that penetrates the surface, despite vague references to his stepfather slapping him around.
40
Wall Street Journal Staff (Not Credited)
As disrespectful to his victims as it may be to view The House of Saddam as entertainment, that is the only level where it succeeds.
 The average user rating for this tv show is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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