Comical Ali DVD

Comical Ali is a dry tribute to the thus-nicknamed former Iraqi Minister for Information, Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf, whose bravura performances at press conferences throughout the brief Iraq War of 2003 turned him into a global icon, celebrated on numerous Web sites and even showered with tongue-in-cheek praise by President Bush himself. His colourful denunciations of the "villains" and "mercenaries" whom he insisted were being "crushed" by the glorious Republican Guard at every turn only increased in their volume and insistence when TV footage of American troops occupying... Saddam Airport plainly proved that he was talking nonsense. And, as a dry smile played about the Minister's lips, you wondered if he himself realised he was talking nonsense and was having fun with it--or was he a Saddam loyalist in pathological denial? Wisely and appropriately, this low-budget documentary restrains itself from overplaying the comedy element here, even if the cover artwork makes you fear otherwise. Rather, it offers a potted history of the War, thumbnail profiles of "Comical Ali" and his boss Saddam Hussein and earnestly ponders whether Al-Sahaf only embarked on his lurid stream of blatant whoppers because he was under orders to do so? (Well, there's a thought...). Copious and highly entertaining footage of Al-Sahaf enables you to arrive at your own theory as to whether he was bad, mad or sad, or all three. --David Stubbs [show more]

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