Next to Hitler or Stalin, no modern figure has been as vilified as Saddam Hussein. And with the Iraqi despot's atrocities so well known and oft-repeated, it becomes easy to forget that there was a flesh-and-bones man behind the monster.What makes HOUSE OF SADDAM so compelling is its humanization of the title character. Yigal Naor delivers a subdued brilliance as Saddam, developing the character over a 27-year elapsed period that begins with his ascension to power and ends with his hanging. Naor brings Saddam to the screen without bias. He's as convincing with Saddam the caring family man as he is with Saddam the cold-hearted executioner.Producers of this four-hour miniseries faced the same challenge as those who have brought other notable world figures to film: what hits the screen and what stays on the cutting room floor? The choice here was to shed light on a quartet of important eras in Saddam's life: his rise to power, his war with Iran, his invasion of Kuwait and his evasion of US forces after the fall of his government. This approach is not perfect - it would have been fascinating to see the final chapter focus more on the process that led to Saddam's fall - but it works well nevertheless.A rich back story, with emphasis on unstable sons Uday (an amazing Philip Arditti) and Qusay (Mounir Margoum), helps flesh out the story of a complex man in a complex situation. At times the film feels like THE SOPRANOS, with loyalties constantly questioned and bullets planted in the heads of recusants. Given that there is so much about Saddam we will never know, some dramatic license was taken, but none of it screams of pure fiction.HOUSE OF SADDAM sheds important light on a man whose impact on the world was as devastating as it was profound. With no political agenda, it makes for irresistible viewing.

I watched this a year ago. Thinking not another thing on Iraq. But i was surprised it was amazing. I watched the first 10minutes and was hooked on the series.The fact this had a great story to it and acted brilliantly was good. This mini series helps you have a insight to the mind of Saddam. It helps you have a more of understanding to his madness in Iraq. With the lives of the former dictator on his people. the influence of terror and violence would play out. It also helps you have a understanding to why the collision forces invaded Iraq. It helps in showing Sadams rise and fall of power leading to his capture my the collision forces.This series just does not show Saddam's life but also the life of his family and his relationship with his sons and his western wife.If you are fascinated by history i highly recommended this it is super!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a well made, well acted superb production as a series, but it really fails to tell the truth about Saddam's connection with the United States. Once again we have Hollywood deciding what stays in and what stays out and this series makes Saddam to be a something from Shakespeare's "King Lear" and it is utter non-sense. I was surprised and very disappointed since this was made by the BBC and they usually get things right?. I guess when HBO joined in things got changed?. This series never delved into the US role in backing Saddam's regime early, and later backing him to fight Iran by supplying him with Bombs to Bomb Iran for almost 8 years. Killing all the women and children with Chemicals that came from US. This is well known documented FACT and part of the US history but I guess it is easier to make someone else to be the Monster like Saddam.They didn't show one scene with Tariq Aziz in the White House with Bush senior and Regan when they were making all the arm deal to Bomb Iran and later the same US Govt made Saddam to be the monster. This was covered by the PBS on Frontline: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/there was real footage showing Tariq Aziz in the White house and meeting with Regan and Bush all smiles when they were shipping arms to Iraq to bomb Iran and that part of history is somehow OK by HBO and BBC to decided what part of History is made into this fabricated fantasy of Saddam? Hollywood makes it's own history of Saddam and the sad part is for the most part the general public, and mostly Americans whom can not name their own presidents or have very little knowledge of their own history and yet sit back and watch this crap and then write reviews on this site as it to be some amazing series to depict someone like Saddam?.I encourage you people to log into sites http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/and watch the truth about your own history about Iraq and Saddam and US.

"House of Saddam" is a simply splendid miniseries. I have a cursory knowledge of Iraq and Saddam but this series confirmed what I knew and also illustrated new facts. The acting was amazing from everyone, particularly the actors who played Saddam and Uday - very scary and extremely convincing.The only complaint I would have is that the last two episodes, particularly the very last one, dragged a little bit (I honestly became uninterested in Saddam after he was removed from power), though I appreciated that the series wanted to be timely and show the American invasion of Iraq. Also, I felt that each of the four parts jumped around a little bit too much and that I was more interested in the story of Saddam's immediate family rather than the story of Saddam's sons-in-law (though I'm sure their story was important).All in all, this was an amazingly well-done mini-series on a fascinating topic. I will definitely be watching these actors and seeing where all they go in the future.