The Dictator — What a Man Can Do. Sacha Baron Cohen strikes again with…
By: Alf Ksmpmi
Tags: Ksmpmi, Power, Dictatorship, Movie Review, International Relations

Sacha Baron Cohen strikes again with his off-color and dark humor. This time, he portrayed a dictator who holds absolute power over the North Africa oil-rich-country Wadiya, Admiral General Aladeen. If any of you have seen Borat or Bruno, then you probably know what to expect from Cohen. In this film, Cohen took slapstick jokes to another level and use satire to show what a man can do as a leader. Not to mention his exaggerated Arabic accent made the punch-line even more perfect. Well, there’s plenty of blatant offense regarding race, sexual orientation, terrorism, and politics in this movie, but is it funny? You might find so with a guilty laugh.

Admiral General Aladeen

The film started with news about Wadiya nuclear threat and how basically the whole world responded with a military threat from NATO. It resulted in the general visit to the United States for a clearing statement at the UN meeting. During his time in the states, Aladeen was betrayed by his most trusted uncle Tamir who wanted to sell Wadiya oil to China and other countries. That can only happen if Wadiya implemented democracy as their governmental system so Tamir uses Aladeen double to replace the general while he was dumped on the streets of US. But this movie is a heroic story about the dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy will never come true in his beloved Wadiya. Aladeen put much effort while working with his former nuclear scientist to make his way back and prevent democracy to ever happen.

Aladeen and Nuclear Scientist Nadal

As a dictator, Aladeen is the main reason why Wadiya became Wadiya. He affected the nation foreign policy, he affected the nation constitution, he affected the nation political system, and he certainly affected the people life. Aladeen runs his country like he is playing a game — never cares about what others think. Life in Wadiya is depend on what he likes and what he doesn’t. As long as he gets what he wanted, then everything is okay. His idiosyncrasy made the supreme leader do everything based on his past experience and needs. Wadiya future is determined by Aladeen and Aladeen only.

Do we have this type of dictatorship in real life? We surely do. Even though dictatorship has faded through time, some countries still entrusted one man to hold absolute power. Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and the infamous Kim Jong-un of North Korea are two examples of nowadays dictator. They both determine the fate of their countries and nobody can do anything.

Aladeen parading with his camels and Lamborghini

The problem with a dictator is they think that it’s the best for their country to run such policy. They don’t want their country to be depended. Even if they don’t have the ability to work things out alone as a country, they still want to be looked as so. They tend to shut the country down from foreign exposure. In modern-day international system, such nation can be considered as a threat. As depicted in the film, no one knows what Wadiya has and what Aladeen does in the country and that made them the enemy of the world. It happened because of a security dilemma. And that’s why modern days international system considered North Korea as a threat.

Being a dictator basically mean you own the whole country. As Aladeen said, a dictator have all the nation’s wealth. Or you prefer democracy where everybody always talks? Surely Aladeen doesn’t love that.

Aladeen scolding an officer

At the end of the day, The Dictator is a movie that will make you laugh. Yes, it’s explicit and offensive, but the plot is quite amazing and the satire is somehow spot on. But before you watch this film, take this as a friendly reminder: you don’t want to watch it with your parents.

-Muhammad Daffa Haikal