History Film / TheDictator

* LighterAndSofter: Compared to ''Film/{{Borat}}'' and ''Film/{{Bruno}}''. 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).

* {{Jerkass}}: Zigzagged. Aladeen eventually becomes the JerkWithAHeartOfGold due to being somewhat humbled by his experience, but not by much. He thinks he has become this, at least. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Nadal knows better.]]

* {{MadScientist}}: Nadal agrees to help Aladeen regain power so he can continue working on nuclear weapons, instead of his lame job in America.

** Aladeen invokes this trope by mocking Clayton for his (supposedly) poor choice of weaponry and then for pissing off the restaurant waiter with fake LineOfSightName[=s=].

* LineOfSightName: {{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.

* MistakenForTerrorist: This happens to Aladeen and Nadal when they are on the helicopter. The American tourists think that Aladeen is in league with Bin Laden; in reality, he's just letting Bin Laden crash at his guest house, although speaking Arabic (actually Hebrew), the only immediately recognizable words being "bin Laden", "911", "911 2012" and a number of landmarks as well as Aladeen showing off his vest and counting down from 5 don't really help his case.

* 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.

* TheDitz: Aladeen and Zoey both come across as pretty flaky but they are far more on the ball than Aladeen's moronic double.

* EvilIsPetty: Aladeen develops a nuclear weapon, but he also kills people who get the cereal toy prize he wanted or who block his path on a staircase.

** According to Nadal while he was working as a Mac Genius, usually what causes MacBooks to malfunction is when users jizz into them.

** Played straight by the aforementioned racist assassin who tries to kill Aladeen.

* BodyDouble:
** Aladeen has one, just like [[UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein another Middle Eastern tyrant.]]
** Osama bin Laden had one too and he was shot by SEAL Team Six.

* 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 El Salvadorian 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.
** Crosses over with PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aladeen. Goes without saying, since it is a Sacha Baron Cohen film.

* ShownTheirWork: The Republic of Wadiya website mentions that Aladeen appointed his father (who was obviously [[SelfMadeOrphan assassinated by his own son]]) to the position of "Eternal President", while "merely" bestowing upon himself the position of "Vice-President" under his deceased father. "Eternal President" is in fact the actual office currently "held" by the first dictator of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea, Kim Il-Sung. North Korea's laws even mandate that Il-Sung still be referred to ''in the present tense'' even though he died in 1994.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Aladeen pleasures Zoey by tonguing her hairy [[spoiler:armpit]]

* 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.

* 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 show elections.]]

* InsaneTrollLogic: Aladeen ordered many civilians and his own scientists and generals to be executed for very selfish, trivial reasons (i.e. disagreements over what shape the nuclear warheads should be, jealousy over a cereal toy prize, blocking his path on a staircase) but he does nothing against Osama bin Laden for squatting at his guesthouse (let alone ruin the bathroom there) other than complain about it.

* LetTheBullyWin: In the games he organized, Aladeen won all medals, but he is showed shooting some of his competitors (and random people) during a race.

* 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 it, 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.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The oil magnates ready to pounce upon Waidyan oil.

* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: Aladeen and Zoey get closer and closer. Aladeen finally confesses that he love her and just thereafter that he is the dictator Aladeen. Because of the latter confession, Zoey rejects him. In the end, Aladeen sees Zoey in the crowd as he is going to reject the democratic constitution. This makes him change his mind and he declares that he embraces democracy, so Zoey falls for him.

* TheCaligula: Aladeen inherited the power from his father. He is irrational (for example he wants a pointy bomb even if his point scientist tells that 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).

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Nevertheless, 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.

* ArabOilSheikh: Aladeen, although not an Arab (or so he claims) and not 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'.

** The Western world condemns and wants to execute Osama bin Laden for the Arson and Murder, Aladeen hates bin Laden for overstaying at his guesthouse and ruining his bathroom.

* AssholeVictim: Clayton, the racist xenophobe who kidnaps, and tries (and fails) to torture and murder Shabazz and [[spoiler:gets burned to best.]]

* BlatantLies: Shabazz's propoganda 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 behaviour with the body double.

* BeardOfEvil: Aladeen, he becomes milder after he looses it, but goes back to the same old oppressive routines once he gets a new one.

-->'''[[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 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.
* MistakenForTerrorist: This happens to Aladeen and Nadal when they are on the helicopter. The American tourists think that Aladeen is in league with Bin Laden; in reality, he's just letting Bin Laden crash at his guest house, although speaking Arabic (actually Hebrew), the only immediately recognizeable words being "bin Laden", "911", "911 2012" and a number of landmarks as well as Aladeen showing off his vest and counting down from 5 don't really help his case.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Nevertheless, 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.

* AllMuslimsAreArab: Clayton looks forward to torturing General Aladeen because he's "an Arab", although the nation Wadiya replaces Eritrea (which is in the Horn of Africa), making Aladeen African.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: When Aladeen and Nadal take their helicopter ride, they're speaking Hebrew, not "Wadiyan". Possibly a StealthPun, since Aladeen is virulently anti-Semitic.

* {{Smurfing}}:

* BrokenBird: The Wadiyan refugees who escaped execution by Aladeen have dedicated an entire restaurant to calling for Aladeen's death.

** The Wadiyan people.
** Nadal.

** John C. Reilly has a two-scene role.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The birth scene. Soooo much wrong there.

* AllMuslimsAreArab: Clayton looks forward to torturing General Aladeen because he's "an Arab", although the nation Wadiya is located in the Horn of Africa, making Aladeen African.

* 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 people for being black, female, disabled, etc. even if you don't like it. Aladeen argues that in a democracy, there is chaos with so many trying to push their own agendas and there's no way to please or satisfy everybody.

* BeardOfEvil: Aladeen, he becomes more mild after he looses it, but goes back to the same old oppressive routines once he gets a new one.

%%* AffablyEvil: Guess who?

%%* ComedicSociopathy

%%* ItsAllAboutMe

* 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 people for being black, female, disabled, etc. even if you don't like it. Aladeen argues stupid people with stupid opinions shouldn't be allowed to make decisions for their country but they always find a way to get their votes to count.

* MaleFrontalNudity: Aladeen's robe flies up as he tries to swing between two buildings, before [[CrowningMomentOfFunny thwacking right into a window.]]