History Film / TheDictator

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: When Aladeen and Nadal take their helicopter ride, they're speaking Hebrew, not "Wadiyan". Possibly a StealthPun, since Aladeen is virulently anti-Semitic (and also a RunningGag in Cohen's work).

** Aladeen has ordered that a great number of words in the Wadyian language be replaced with "Aladeen", including contradictory terms like "positive" and "negative", and "open" and "closed", causing a lot of confusion.
--->'''Physician''': Do you want the Aladeen news or the Aladeen news?\\
'''Man''': The... uh, Aladeen news.\\
'''Physician''': You are HIV... Aladeen.\\
''Man switches through happy and concerned facial expressions multiple times.''

* WholePlotReference: The basic premise echoes Charlie Chaplin's ''Film/TheGreatDictator'', although with a much larger focus on the dictator character. Aladeen's speech at the end could also be seen as an ironic take on the climactic speech at the end of Chaplin's film.

* WholePlotReference: The basic premise echoes Charlie Chaplin's ''Film/TheGreatDictator'', although with a much larger focus on the dictator character. Aladeen's speech at the end could also be seen as an ironic take on the big speech at the end of Chaplin's film.

** [[Series/TheDailyShow Aasif Mandvi]] as the Wadiyan doctor

* BoobsOfSteel: The "virgin guard" with the enormous breasts, Etra (played by [[http://www.bustyheart.com/ Busty Heart]]), is also the most physically aggressive of all the guards, and the only one depicted engaging in violence...using her comically large breasts as weapons (in a scene from the unrated extended addition).

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Aladeen, among other world leaders and countries. His approval in Wadiya may not be 50%, but based on the crowd scenes, it's certainly not zero.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Aladeen is initially enraged that his idiot body double is making him look like a fool in front of the UN and the entire world. However, after the double pours a pitcher of urine over the head of the Israeli ambassador, Aladeen admits that's actually a good one.

* AllMuslimsAreArab: Clayton looks forward to torturing General Aladeen because he's "an Arab"[[note]]pronounced "ay-rab"[[/note]], although the nation Wadiya replaces Eritrea (which is in the Horn of Africa), making Aladeen African. Aladeen explicitly says he isn't Arab in response to Clayton.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: It's not super clear just which ethnicity Aladeen is ''supposed'' to be if he's not Arab, as Aladeen and Wadiya are both Arabic (or at least [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Arabic-sounding]]) names. Of course, many Muslims do speak Arabic (and have Arab names) though not Arabs themselves, but still it isn't explained.
* AnythingThatMoves: Aladeen is shown to be with several women and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And it's later stated that [[{{Squick}} 14 year old boys are his weakness]].
* ArabOilSheikh: Aladeen, although not an Arab (or so he claims) and not an actual sheikh, is really ostentatious in his displays of wealth and has the requisite Middle Eastern flavour. Wadiya is also said to have 'Unlimited oil wealth'.

* AssholeVictim: Clayton, the racist xenophobe who kidnaps and tries (and fails) to torture and murder Shabazz and [[spoiler:gets burned to death.]]
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Aladeen defeats his uncle for betraying him, but the ending falls under this trope on account of Aladeen being a VillainProtagonist who never undergoes a complete HeelFaceTurn, and instead continues oppressing his country afterwards. It's notable that his main opponent was also evil though, as he was simply trying to sell the country to the highest bidders for its oil resources. The real sufferers in this case are the Wadiyan people.]]
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Zoey is revealed to be pregnant during the credits. Subverted in that Aladeen makes it clear he will kill the child if it turns out to be a girl.]]
* BaldOfEvil: The EvilUncle and EvilChancellor Tamir is played by Creator/BenKingsley.
* BeardOfEvil: Aladeen, he becomes milder after he loses it, but goes back to the same old oppressive routines once he gets a new one.
* BeleagueredAssistant: Nadal doesn't actually like Aladeen getting back into power. He just wants out of his boring job in New York.
* BestialityIsDepraved: Aladeen's body double is more, err, comfortable with goats than women...

* BlackComedyRape: ''Strongly'' implied several times that Aladeen has participated in this before.
* BlatantLies: Shabazz's propaganda about himself is ''full'' of this. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120427211727/http://www.republicofwadiya.com/biography.php For example, read his biography.]]
* BodyguardBabes: Aladeen is protected by a group of female bodyguards. They also act as a PaidHarem, judging from their behavior with the body double.
* BodyDouble:
** Aladeen employs these regularly. After one is shot in an ambush in front of the Royal Palace, a clueless shepherd is recruited as the next replacement.
** The movie also reveals that UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden used a body double that was killed by Seal Team 6; the ''real'' Osama is living in Aladeen's guest house.

* BrilliantButLazy: Aladeen, who proves later in the movie that he CAN be a competent (although brutal and ruthless) leader if necessary.
* BullyingADragon:
** Aladeen invokes this trope by mocking Clayton for his (supposedly) poor choice of weaponry and then for pissing off the restaurant waiter with fake {{Line of Sight Alias}}es.
** The fat kid who sabotages Zoey's inventory invokes Aladeen's wrath.

** Nadal, especially as Aladeen keeps harassing him over the nuclear warhead's tip shape (which doesn't matter in the slightest bit how effective the warhead is) and a dead corpse's head.
* TheCaligula: Aladeen inherited the power from his father. He is irrational (for example he wants a pointy bomb even if his point scientist tells him a rounded one is more efficient), violently moody (he is very prompt to sentence to death someone he trusted just moments before), and debauched (see AnythingThatMoves).

* ChestOfMedals: Aladeen, albeit with ribbons, so he has that going for him.
* ComedicSociopathy: Basically all of Aladeen’s evil acts.
* TheComicallySerious: Tamir. While everyone else is hamming it up, Creator/BenKingsley maintains a dignified facade throughout all the silly events happening around him.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Aladeen may look like an idiot, but he's frighteningly competent at leading any group of people, be it a country or a grocery store.
* DeadGuyPuppet: Aladeen seek a beard from a deceased African warlord and has Nadal chop off the head while they're at the funeral. Afterwards, Aladeen plays with the decapitated head like a puppet.
* DeathByRacism:
** Played straight by Clayton, the racist assassin who tries to kill Aladeen.
** Averted by Aladeen himself, who spends the greater part of the movie making various racist and politically incorrect remarks, but [[KarmaHoudini never really gets punished for it]].
* DemocracyIsFlawed: Aladeen gives out [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech a speech on why he despises democracy]] near the climax. He states that you have to accept votes from people who are black, female, disabled, etc. even if you don't like it. [[JerkassHasAPoint In conclusion, Aladeen retorts there is chaos with so many trying to push their own agendas]] and there's no way to please or satisfy everybody. Played with in his speech on why he prefers a dictatorship, in which many of the things he says are also applicable to American democracy (such as 1% of the population having all the wealth, manipulation through media, neglect of people's needs). %%* DemocracyIsFlawed: Aladeen gives out [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech a speech on how disastrous democracy can be]] near the climax. You have to compete with the ultra-elite rich for economic power, you'll be denied education and healthcare if you don't have the money to afford it, and you have to accept votes from people who are black, female, disabled, etc. even if you don't like it. [[JerkassHasAPoint In conclusion, Aladeen retorts there is chaos with so many trying to push their own agendas]] and there's no way to please or satisfy everybody.

* TheDitz: Aladeen and Zoey both come across as pretty flaky, but they are far more on the ball than Aladeen's moronic double.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Aladeen pleasures Zoey by tonguing her hairy [[spoiler:armpit]].
* DressedToOppress: Aladeen has many of the hallmarks -- green military uniform, sunglasses, CommissarCap, sash, ChestOfMedals...

* DoWrongRight: Aladeen admonishes his torturer for using tools that are outdated and have been replaced by better implements.
-->'''Aladeen''': "Where did you get those relics from? The Shah of Iran's garage sale?"
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Aladeen now knows why everyone hates Bin Laden. PlayedWith: it's because Bin Laden won't leave Aladeen's guest house. And keeps messing up his bathroom.
-->"You go to the bathroom after Osama, you will realize the true meaning of terrorism."
* EveryoneHasStandards: Even Aladeen is amazed at how stupid his body double is.
* EvilChancellor: Aladeen's uncle Tamir, seemingly a loyal advisor, but secretly planning to subvert Aladeen's authority and sell off the country's oil to foreign corporations. {{Subverted|Trope}}, because Aladeen is not a good ruler either.
* EvilIsPetty: Aladeen kills people for ''very'' petty reasons. He orders one person executed for getting the cereal toy prize he wanted, and another for blocking his path on a staircase.
* EvilVersusEvil: A ruthless egomaniac dictator versus a corrupt TreacherousAdvisor who wants to sell off his country to oil tycoons. Whichever of them won, the people of Wadiya would still suffer.
* {{Expy}}: Aladeen is one to (former) real world dictator Kim Jong-il of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea- sorry, [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny The Democratic People's]] [[BlatantLies Republic of Korea.]] The film is even dedicated to Kim's memory! He also appears to be one for (again former) real world dictator UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi of [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny The Great Socialist People's]] [[OverlyLongName Libyan Arab Jamahiriya]], now just [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Libya Libya]].
* FakeAmerican: In-universe. Aladeen does an expectedly horrible job of impersonating an American tourist.
-->"I love being an Americans! America is number one! Oh, I am from U.S.A.! My father also from U.S.A.! My great-grandfather fought in the American Civil Jihad."

* FriendlyEnemy: PlayedForLaughs with Clayton, who wants to kill Aladeen while also being very friendly with him. Aladeen, in turn, provides stern but honest advice about Clayton's mediocre torture devices.

* GloriousLeader: The [[CharacterBlog official Wadiyan website]] goes on and on in praise of Aladeen.

* GranolaGirl: Zoey, who manages a completely democratic health food store which is hyper eco friendly and takes in political refugees as workers.
* HairyGirl: Playing alongside the GranolaGirl image, Zoey is also seen sporting armpit hair for the length of the movie. She and Aladeen even manage a particularly funny fake out during their "sex scene" swapping oral sex for him instead licking her furry armpits.
* HappilyEverAfter: The film ends with the marriage of Aladeen and Zoey.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:{{Zigzagged}} towards the end, with Aladeen going back and forth between deciding to introduce democracy and remaining as a dictatorship. Ultimately subverted as Aladeen decides to introduce "real democracy" to his country, but they just turn out to be sham elections.]]
* HiddenDepths: For all of Aladeen's many, many faults, he's actually [[NoDelaysForTheWicked an incredibly efficient manager]]. This is evidenced when [[spoiler: he forcibly takes control of Zoey's store. After a couple of days, he's got the right employees doing the right job, has the store looking nice and generally running smoothly. Albeit by employing some questionable methods, including kidnapping and extortion.]]
** Whereas Aladeen once seemed to genuinely believe that - quote - "the Wadiyan people love being oppressed", [[spoiler:his declaration of democracy being "instated" in Wadiya is the start of his first actual effort at feigning benevolence for the rest of the world, holding an election with an actual opponent (winning by a full 1.19 percentage points less compared to his last and what was once his only one), changing his main title to President-Prime Minister, and not being pathologically resentful to those who dispute his ballistic missile design choices. Baby steps towards being RepressiveButEfficient.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Clayton sets himself on fire, right after arguing with Aladeen over the quality of his weapons and gas torch.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Zoey. So friggin much.

* LiarRevealed: Aladeen willingly reveals his true identity after pretending to be an activist.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to ''Film/{{Borat}}'' and ''Film/Bruno2009''. While those two films were R-rated (and very hard R's, at that), this one seems to play it on the safe side and with a few trims could have easily been a PG-13 (which was the studio's original plan).
* LineOfSightAlias: {{Parodied|Trope}}. Aladeen seems almost incapable of coming up with an alias any other way. It works the first time with "Allison Burgers," but it leads to obviously fake names like "Ladis Washerum" and "Emploice Muswashans" that don't fool anybody.
* LoveRedeems: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. By having shown Aladeen compassion by standing up to the cop who falsely arrested him for allegedly trying to hijack a helicopter and bomb NYC, Aladeen falls in love with Zoey and her presence at the hotel meeting alone is able to convince Aladeen to at least let Wadiya remain a democracy even if a terrible one where Aladeen still gets to direct it however he wants. So, Aladeen's feelings for Zoey help him become a (slightly) better person.
* MadScientist: Nadal agrees to help Aladeen regain power so he can continue working on nuclear weapons, instead of his lame job in America.
* MaleFrontalNudity: Aladeen's robe flies up as he tries to swing between two buildings, before [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments thwacking right into a window.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Aladeen seized power from his father after murdering him in a "hunting accident". Though he apparently did [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch a really shitty job of making it look like an accident]].
-->'''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20120614065634/http://www.republicofwadiya.com/biography.php Biography]]''': When Aladeen was just a child, his father Omar died in a tragic hunting accident when he was hit by [[NoKillLikeOverkill 97 stray bullets and a stray grenade]]. Shortly afterwards, Omar's Chief Advisor suggested that Aladeen should be officially declared the successor. The supremely-humble Aladeen responded by accepting the position.
** The same biography also implies Aladeen's older siblings all met the same fate.
* MistakenForTerrorist: This happens to Aladeen and Nadal when they are on the helicopter. They're speaking about mundane things in Arabic (actually Hebrew), but with hand gestures and English names that give their fellow passengers the impression they're plotting to destroy various New York landmarks. They also mention "Nine-Eleven" a few times but are actually talking about the Porsche Model 911.
-->'''Nadal:''' (in Wadiyan) "You know, while you are here, you should try to see some of the sights such as the <Empire State Building> and <Yankee Stadium>."\\
'''Aladeen:''' (in Wadiyan) "I'd ''love'' to see the fireworks over the <Statue of Liberty!>"\\
(starts making exploding sounds and hand gestures, then gives Nadal a high-five)

* NotQuiteDead: Aladeen admits to a shoplifter at Zoey's store that the real Osama bin Laden is hiding in his guesthouse being a sloppy, freeloading guest who won't leave and that the guy SEAL Team Six shot was a double.
* OhCrap: Aladeen when he ends up in the "death to Aladeen" restaurant in New York, and realizes that everyone he had executed is alive and in the restaurant with him.
* PointyHairedBoss: Zoey. While she's a BenevolentBoss she's allowed such blunders as letting an African refugee from a tribe with no concept of money man the registers, a Salvadoran woman whose hands have been replaced with hooked prosthetics do inventory in a store with easily damaged and perishable merchandise, and is oblivious about one of her employees skimming from the till. Worst of all is probably hiring Aladeen, though it turns out his totalitarian "Supreme Grocer" managing style worked wonders.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aladeen. This goes without saying, since it is a Sacha Baron Cohen film.
* PrinceAndPauper: Between Aladeen and his stunt double.

* RedemptionDemotion: Aladeen's former minions went from being high-level officials to working menial jobs in New York City after they were snuck out of Wadiya. Aside from Nadal, who is so sick of the crappy job that he wishes to work with Aladeen, most of them seem content with their lives.
* RefugeInAudacity: Aladeen, who very easily becomes unrecognizable without his beard.

* RichesToRags: After Aladeen is shorn of his identity and his beard, he's forced to live as an anonymous refugee.
* RunningGag: Aladeen ordering the execution of someone for a petty reason with a ThroatSlittingGesture, just after telling the concerned person that everything is OK.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Aladeen almost certainly killed off his dad in addition to all of his brothers.

* StrawFeminist: Zoey is a wacky feminist who has a vegan shop, and is often portrayed as the complete other side of the spectrum to Aladeen.
* TheStarscream: The TreacherousAdvisor who tries to kill Aladeen.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
---> '''Aladeen''': Enriching weapons-grade uranium to be used for peaceful purposes, It will be used only for medical research and clean energy. It will, it will. And will certainly never be used to attack ls... Oh, boy.

* TakingTheBullet: After Aladeen's speech about democracy, his double jumps before him to take a bullet that was shot at him by Tamir.
* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Nadal talks to Aladeen when he wants to commit suicide because he was rejected by Zoey for being a dictator.

* ThroatSlittingGesture: The standard way for Aladeen to condemn someone to death.
* TortureTechnician: Aladeen's kidnapper tries to be this, but Aladeen, himself a TortureTechnician, [[DoWrongRight mocks and degrades his apparently outdated tool set]], ruining the fun for his captor.
* TreacherousAdvisor: Aladeen's uncle Tamir, seemingly a loyal advisor, but secretly planning to subvert Aladeen's authority and sell off the country's oil to foreign corporations.
* VillainProtagonist: DoubleSubversion. Aladeen is a ruthless egomaniac dictator and he is the protagonist of the film. He seems to undergo a HeelFaceTurn in the end and to embrace democracy (which would be a subversion of the trope), but actually this is just a façade: he intends to remain the absolute ruler of Wadiya.
* WomenAreWiser: Subverted with Zoey, who's a terrible manager and a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter.
* UncertainDoom: Zoey. We see Aladeen ordering her to be executed after discovering her Jewish ancestry, but she's still alive in the mid-credit scenes so it's unknown if Aladeen has a change of heart or if the scenes are chronologically before the wedding.
* UndyingLoyalty: Efawadh the body double. He's genuinely concerned for his leader's health and instantly relinquishes power back to him as soon as he returns. He also takes a bullet for Aladeen in the climax.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Aladeen is known for having people executed for extremely petty reasons. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the executioner is part of LaResistance, so everyone he has sentenced to death escaped and formed a resistance movement against him in New York.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Double subverted. Aladeen eventually thinks he has becomea JerkWithAHeartOfGold, at least. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Nadal knows better.]]

In this film Sacha plays Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen of the Republic of Wadiya, a fictional country in North Africa. Aladeen is pretty much the worst head of state this side of Pol Pot (in a funny way of course), [[ButForMeItWasTuesday but to him it's just everyday life.]] However when he's invited to give a speech at the United Nations in New York, his TreacherousAdvisor Tamir (Creator/BenKingsley) arranges to have him kidnapped and murdered. Though Aladeen escapes, his captor shaved off his iconic beard, making him unrecognizable.

!!'''The Dictator provides the following tropes''':

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The rank of Admiral-General is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_admiral real]], it's just not used the same way as in the movie.

* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** Zoey teaches Aladeen how to do this, much to his joy.
** Implied by Nadal, who says that his job as a Mac Genius consisted primarily of cleaning semen from [=MacBook=] laptops.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Shabazz seized power from his father after murdering him in a "hunting accident". Though he apparently did a really shitty job of making it look like an accident.
-->'''[[http://www.republicofwadiya.com/biography.php Biography]]''': When Aladeen was just a child, his father Omar died in a tragic hunting accident when he was hit by [[NoKillLikeOverkill 97 stray bullets and a stray grenade]]. Shortly afterwards, Omar's Chief Advisor suggested that Aladeen should be officially declared the successor. The supremely-humble Aladeen responded by accepting the position.

* GagBoobs: Aladeen's guard Etra. She smashes a stack of bricks with them, and in a scene from the extended unrated edition, attacks [[spoiler: Aladeen himself]] with them.

* AffablyEvil: Guess who?