The Dictator

The Dictator

Directed by: Larry Charles

Starring: 

Sacha Baron Cohen as Aladeen/Efawadh

Anna Faris as Zoey

Ben Kingley as Tamir

Jason Mantzoukas as Nadal

I’ve always been a big fan of comedies when I started binge watching movies, thanks to Adam Sandler but after watching most of his movies I’ve came to a point where I have to look for more comedies to watch, especially those that are not so mainstream. Thanks to Google, I stumble upon this movie call ‘The Dictator’, directed by Larry Charles, starring Sacha Baron Cohen, the guy that acted as Borat, another great comedy back in 2006.

Not expecting much from this movie, started watching it while doing some assignment.The movie started by introducing the leader of Wadiya, Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen). Wadiya is a Middle Eastern petroleum producing country which makes their leader very wealthy. The movie introduced Aladeen as the son of a savage and violent dictator and his mother died in childbirth (but showing that his mother died getting killed). The movie immediately caught my attention and I stop doing my assignment and focused on watching the movie. As a petrol producing country ruled under a dictatorship, Aladeen was naturally extremely rich, the movie continued showing how lavish his lifestyle is, including a large palace and hosting his own Olympic which he won 14 gold medals. Aladeen was also described as an ignorant leader as he changed over 300 Wadiyan words (such as positive and negative, open and close) into his own name, Aladeen, causing mass confusion. However, even with his massive amount of wealth, he still lives a lonely wife, paying gold Rolex and jewelries to celebrities (such as Megan Fox, Katy Perry and even Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Aladeen’s premier and advisor, Tahir (Ben Kinglsey) was supposed to be the rightful heir to the throne but was not able to get onto the throne because he wanted to sell Wadiya’s oil, which made Aladeen’s father gave Aladeen the power instead of Tahir. After trying many times and failing to assassinate Aladeen, Tamir came up with a new plan to get rid of Aladeen, by removing his beard while he is in America to attend a conference to address United Nations. By removing his iconic beard and getting a double, nobody was able to recognize him and left him stranded in the street, powerless. Aladeen then met Zoey (Anna Faris), a woman that runs an organic shop, which he then fell in love with after some time. Aladeen also found his ex leader of nuclear research facility, Nuclear Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas). Together with Nadal, Aladeen finds his way to expose Tamir’s dirty scheme.

The movie thought me a lot about the cultures in America, including their cultures and stereotypes in a very enjoyable and hilarious way. There are more funny scenes that made the movie so hilarious, more than my fingers can count. I’ve watched this movie more than 5 times since then as well as recommending it to many people. I rate ‘The Dictator’ 9.5/10, making it my all-time favorite comedy.

Trailer: