High Value Target: The Hunt For Saddam

Mr. Kinnaman gives a complicated performance in a piece that might have settled for histrionics; the same can be said for Mr. Zuaiter (“Baghdad Central,” “The Girlfriend”), whose Saddam is charming, scheming, criminal and fatalistic.

Joel Kinnaman — and his mustache — will keep you in High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam. Strong at the center, he makes this series a STREAM IT, since it loses focus on the margins.

Despite its flaws, this politically-charged war drama goes above and beyond its thematic brief, even if it doesn’t deliver the requisite thrills to match its piercing analysis.

With such a complex and tragic historic event, whose legacy can still be felt today, it was a difficult task to effectively bring all of these perspectives and arguments to an eight-part political thriller. Therefore, despite promising signs and strong moments, ‘High Value Target’ was ultimately hindered by its own ambition.

“High Value Target” thrives in the scenes between John, the former president and Samir (Dar Salim), John’s translator, who lost countless family members due to Hussein’s systematic state terror. Unfortunately, these scenes are sporadic. The rest of “High Value Target” is a relentless (though rightful) condemnation of an administration that tried to posture its way into justifying a near-decade-long war, but failed in the end.

The adaptation of John Nixon’s Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein is so packed with fictionalization, contrivance and one-dimensional secondary characters that what’s true frequently gets lost in the ludicrousness.