The Dictator 2012 / FULL MOVIE RECAP

Recap

In the fictional country of Wadiya, the spoiled and dangerously clueless Aladeen inherits power as a child. As an adult, he rules through whim and violence: he rigs the Olympics so he can win 14 gold medals, and his grand plans for a nuclear program are undermined by a missile that looks laughably small. When a scientist points this out, Aladeen has him killed.

Aladeen’s uncle, Tamir, secretly wants the throne. After an attempt on Aladeen’s life leaves a look-alike dead, Tamir arranges for a hapless goat herder to impersonate the dictator. He then sends the real Aladeen to the United States, where he is kidnapped and has his trademark beard burned off. Without it, nobody recognizes him—including the people waiting for the speech he was meant to give. Meanwhile, the fake Aladeen makes a spectacle of himself, even drinking and splashing what appears to be urine while announcing that Wadiya will become a democracy.

Stranded in New York, Aladeen meets Zoey, a kind shop owner who gives him work. He initially sneers at her values and her small business, but gradually grows fond of her. He also discovers that many people he believed he had killed are alive in America. One of them, Nadal, recognizes him and agrees to help him reclaim his identity and stop Tamir.

The plan involves getting Aladeen back into the hotel where the impostor is staying. Along the way, the film piles on absurd set pieces: a would-be assassin attacks him with a giant watermelon, and Aladeen and Nadal attempt to obtain a replacement beard from a dead man—only for the man’s family to interrupt them. Aladeen also unexpectedly helps deliver a baby, impressing Zoey, who tells him she loves him. But when he admits he is the dictator, she feels betrayed and sends him away.

Seeing on television that Wadiya’s people seem happier without him, Aladeen considers suicide, but Nadal talks him down. The pair sneak back into the hotel, remove the impostor, and restore Aladeen to his place at the ceremony for Wadiya’s new constitution. At first, Aladeen tears up the document and insists that dictatorship will continue. When Zoey appears, however, he changes course and announces that Wadiya will have democracy. Tamir tries to shoot him, but the duplicate Aladeen takes the bullet.

Aladeen returns to Wadiya with Zoey and marries her. The final joke comes when she tells him she is Jewish: the subtitles describe him signaling his men to kill her, ending the story on one last burst of authoritarian absurdity.

Personalities

• Aladeen — Wadiya’s vain, impulsive dictator
• Tamir — Aladeen’s uncle, who plots to take power
• Nadal — A former target of Aladeen who becomes his ally
• Zoey — The shop owner who helps Aladeen in New York
• The look-alike — The goat herder recruited to impersonate Aladeen