Never in my entire life did I think I'd watch a movie so satirical that'll every scene would keep me at the edge of my seats laughing my heart out and begging for my breath so I don't choke. What made it even better was the fact that my younger brother has been begging me for years to give it and literally has to shove it into my phone before I decided to give it a try. The film is roughly over 13 years old but is still comedy gold even till this very day. I am talking about none other than the masterpiece known as THE DICTATOR.
Set in the fictional country of Wadiya located in the northern part of the African continent. The country is ruled by a tyrannical dictator in the person of General Aladeen aka The supreme leader. Inheriting the mantle of leadership after the demise of his father at a very young age, Aladeen is hellbent on remaining in power eliminating anyone who stands against him even for the silliest reasons.
His quest for absolute power pushes him to acquire nuclear weapons catches the attention of the United Nations and is invited to address the UN in an attempt to reaffirm Wadiya's position as a sovereign state.
Unbeknownst to him, his most trusted advisor (Uncle) Tamir has a plan to assassinate and replace him with dumb lookalike which he will use to sign a treaty embracing democracy into the country giving Tamir access to the country's rich oil reserves. Luckily for Aladeen, he narrowly escapes a gruesome death but loses his beard in the process making him unrecognizable to everyone.
Stuck with nowhere to go to, Aladeen befriends a young lady by the name of Zoey who mistakes him for an activist and realizing he was stranded, takes him in with a job for livelihood. Being an elite all his life, Aladeen struggles with accomplishing even the basic tasks but puts in effort to earn his keep. He soon runs into his previous head nuclear scientist Nadal in a bar, someone he had actually ordered to be beheaded after a brief disagreement about the shape of the nuclear rocket in the past.
Nadal reveals that he (Aladeen) has actually never killed anybody as his supposed victims were shipped out of the country instead of crossing to the other side. The two converse and come to an agreement where Aladeen promises to restore Nadal back to his original position with additional benefits if he can help restore him back into power.
Back in the store Aladeen is attacked by a female sent by Tamir with chesticles they can break bricks and crush skulls but he is able to defeat her thanks to sheer luck.
He continues to live his life in the store as an ordinary civilian while unintentionally drawing closer to Zoey untill they both end up developing feelings for each other pushing him to reveal his real identity to her. Zoey is disgusted by this revelation and tells Aladeen to stay away from her forever because she can not spend her life with a tyrant.
Nevertheless Aladeen is determined to push through with his plans of sneaking into the UN meeting to terminate Wadiya's transition into a democratic system. He successfully switch places with his double and just before he ruins the meeting, he spots Zoey in the crowd and decides to give democracy a chance after he realizes the life he has experienced in America thanks to democracy.
He arrests his uncle for treason, conducts the first democratic election in Wadiya which he wants after threatening the voters with war tanks and finally marries the love of his life Zoey ending the movie on a light note.
The Dictator is an extremely comedic film with unfiltered contents and sometimes throwing indirect references to real life events. The main character Aladeen carries the show from start to finish with witty remarks and often what racist responses that leaves one panting from just how funny they are. The film is not just funny but also shows the journey and development of a authoritative figure who learns to feel sympathy after loosing power and realizing just how he is hated by his own people. The film is a good watch and I'll recommend it over and over again to anyone who is ready to have a good laugh.
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PS: All images are gotten from imdb