General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974) User Reviews

Fascinating insight into the mind of Idi Amin

[tomgillespie2002 · 8/10 · 13 February 2011]

Watching Forest Whitaker's performance as Ugandan military dictator Idi Amin in 2006's slightly disappointing The Last King Of Scotland, and then watching this, Barbet Schroeder's fantastic 1974 documentary about the same man, you have to applaud Whitaker's Oscar winning depiction. He not only grasped the man's sense of humour and desire for approval, but his terrifying ferocity which led to Amin being one of the most loathed and feared rulers in recent history. Yet if ever an Oscar was truly deserved, the Academy should have handed Idi Amin himself the award for Best Actor in 1974. The term 'autoportrait' (self-portrait) is cleverly used in the title, as that is exactly what it is. This might seem like a fly-on-the-wall depiction of a man narrating through his everyday duties, yet the film is very much controlled as much as Kevin Macdonald's fictional film was. Only it's not the director that is calling the shots in this film.

The film is one-half cinema verite and one half an Amin vanity project, and plaudits to Schroeder to let it happen, as it reveals much more about Amin as it would if he had no participation at all, other than in front of the camera. In one scene, Amin arrives by helicopter at a small town and is greeted by a horde of screaming townsfolk, waving flags and clapping in anticipation. However, we are told, the scene has been completely set up for the documentary by Amin. Without repeatedly informing us of the influence he had on the making of the film, and on Schroeder himself, we are allowed to sit back and watch this monster bend and manipulate the truth for his own benefit. He is seen in a meeting with his ministers laying out his ideals and his expectations for his country. In this scene, Amin plays the role of both serious and committed leader, and approachable joker. He warns one of his ministers that he will take action and replace him should he fail to inform him about an aspect of his work again, to which the minister stares down and nods in understanding. We are informed by the narrator that his body is found dead in the River Nile a couple of weeks later.

The film depicts both the political and social sides of Amin. As well as his claims to being the 'last king of Scotland' and his invitation to Queen Elizabeth to visit Africa and meet 'a real man', it also shows the increasingly uneasy relationship that Amin and Uganda had at the time with neighbouring country Tanzania and their President Julius Nyerere. Amin would have you believe otherwise, laughing off these claims and joking that the two have a friendly and informal relationship (the two countries would eventually go to war between 1978 and 1979, leading to the overthrowing of Amin's regime). We also see him with his children from many wives (he was a polygamist, marrying six women) and taking Schroeder and his crew on a boat trip down the River Nile, pointing out the wildlife and talking about Uganda being the most beautiful place on the planet.

It is a terrifying insight in how politicians and military rules can use the media as a propaganda tool, and what a lack of respect they have for their people. You get the feeling throughout the film that Schroeder would like to pose more trying questions to Amin, yet because of the likelihood that the film would be shut down should he be challenged, Schroeder is forced to indulge Amin's desires. In a satisfying climax, which sees Amin allowing himself to be questioned by a board of doctors in a bid to show his accessibility, the camera zooms in close as he sits speechless after being confronted with a difficult question, and the volume on his microphone is turned up to maximum to capture every quiver in his breathing, and the thumping of his ever increasing heartbeat.

The documentary was forced to be edited and released in two versions - one hour-long version in Uganda, and the full length version everywhere else. Amin sent spies to France to make extensive notes on the full film, which lead to the kidnapping of over a hundred French citizens residing in Uganda. According the Schroeder, he was forced to re-edit the film in order for the captives to be released. The film lay in this state until Amin's fall from power, to which the film was restored and re-released in it's entirety.

It could almost be viewed as a companion piece to Leni Reifenstahl's landmark propaganda documentary Triumph Of The Will, both of which show the length that military rulers are willing to go in order to manipulate their people. It is confusing as to why Schroeder would go on to make standard Hollywood pap such as Kiss Of Death and Murder By Number, as this is a fascinating insight into the mind of a fascinating man.

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Unique portrait of a dictator

[bandw · 8/10 · 23 July 2008]

This documentary is unique in my experience, offering as it does in-depth interviews and real-time personal footage of a notorious dictator, with his full cooperation.

Idi Amin ruled Uganda from 1971-1979 during which time it is reputed that some 300,000 Ugandans were put to death. Given Amin's reputation I was expecting him to have the personality of a Stalin, but not so. In many ways he seemed to be a fun-loving, likable guy. For example, at a dance he would play an accordion-like instrument, dance and joke around. He seemed to have a genuine appreciation for wildlife and the countryside. But as the movie went on you began to feel that behind the bonhomie was a personality disorder. For one thing he was delusional - he had, or said he had, a hatred of the Jews and in one scene he was seen staging a mock invasion and capture of the Golan Heights. This was a pretty pathetic performance - a few dozen soldiers with a helicopter backup. The thing that makes the movie interesting is that you can never quite figure Amin out. Did he actually believe that he could take the Golan Heights, or were the maneuvers just a game?

He would do crazy things like establish a fund for England and offer food for the starving English. He made the comment that United Kingdom Prime Minister Edward Heath would not come to visit him because Heath would only visit weak leaders. Did Amin believe these things, or was he grandstanding? I think Amin's agreeing to participate in this endeavor indicates a certain innocence, or was it arrogance?

The filming of a cabinet meeting caused a little chill to go up my spine. Amin instructed his cabinet members to make decisions on their own saying that he wanted strong, independent men to occupy those posts. But then he contradicted himself saying that they could call him any time for advice - even at 2 AM. And, in a voice-over, the director pointed out that one of the ministers who had made a poor decision was mysteriously found dead in a river a couple of weeks later. This cabinet meeting offers perhaps the deepest insight into Amin's rule: contradictory, unfocused, emotional, threatening, and avuncular. Given the fact of Amin's participation and that many of the scenes were staged, the horrors perpetrated by his regime are not treated here, but those horrors are the biggest part of his legacy.

Giving absolute power to anybody is a bit problematic, but giving it to someone as quirky as Amin produced some pretty bizarre results.

A very relevant film: a now impossible window into the mind of a dictator.

[bendunlap · 8/10 · 16 January 2007]

This documentary film is extraordinary in its own right. However, it is the interviews with director Babet Schroder (found on the DVD release of the film), specifically his retelling of the events around the time of the premiere of the movie in Paris, that propel this film to the level of incredible.

Idi Amin's Autoportrait is most relevant today for its capacity to show an instance before more secretive, media-savvy dictators became the norm. Leaders today are of course still perfectly willing to say absurd things on film but, unlike that of Idi Amin's Autoportrait, today's spin is formidable. Key to this film's relevance is that one's imagination need not go far to consider what similarly candid documentaries of certain infamous dictators might look like if footage of them also escaped editing by political pressure. Following the premiere, this film was temporarily edited due to pressure from Idi Amin but thankfully was later restored to become an incisive portrait of the man. Such a portrait of any world leader would probably be quite difficult if not impossible today, making it a very relevant benchmark for those interested in how today's dictators interact (or don't) with media they don't fully control. Among other things, this film is especially of use for those interested in the extremes of state-society relations.

Idi Amin at work, rest, and play

[Hessian499 · 3 October 2001]

This film is an expose of the life and times of Idi Amin, at a time when he was becoming increasingly notorious in the world. Filmed by a French movie crew, Amin probably saw this as a chance to score a public relations coup with the world, but he ends up being his own worst enemy. The film begins with a short segment about Uganda in general, the story of how Amin came to power in a coup in 1971, and how things had deteriorated in the country since the takeover. Following Amin around in his official duties and during his recreation time, the film captures the madman he was on film. The movie crew plays him absolutely straight; you can see his change in emotions from jovial to barely restrained rage.

Besides showing Amin at his worst, this film also tells the tale of everyday life in modern Africa, and shows how Ugandans tried to make the best a miserable situation. One interesting part of the movie is that it shows how the old and new mix in Africa; a group of tribal dancers performs at a military base with a modern jet fighter in the background, for example. Great scenery of the Nile and wildlife as well.

While Amin has been forgotten by many people today, this film is interesting as it shows him at the height of his power, and lays him bare as the madman he was. An interesting look at a crazed leader and how he lived.

Good

[Cosmoeticadotcom · 7/10 · 21 June 2012]

Watching French filmmaker Barbet Schroeder's 1974 documentary General Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait two things came to mind. First was an old Mad magazine spoof of Amin titled Idiot And Mean, in which, I believe the 1970s dictator of Uganda was visited by the crew of the original Star Trek television series, and also that fact that the word Dada, while literally part of Amin's name, also was an early 20th Century arts movement that embraced the meaningless of all art. The first point is obvious, because the name accorded Amin fits, and so does the second point fit, since the real Amin, as portrayed in this film, seems actually meaningless. He is now years dead, after being ousted and living out his life in exile in Saudi Arabia, and the anomic documentary oddly seems perfectly apropos of the man and the movement. One might say that General Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait is, while not a great film, the first actually successful Dadaist work of art ever. Yet, I am more drawn to the first point, the Idiot And Mean riff, because, in watching this film, one must admit that, while the two words describe Amin to a proverbial T, the 92 minute long film shows that the word affable should also have been included.

That's because Amin comes off as a very likable person, at least in his best moments, but like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, when Amin was bad he was horrid, and the film gives glimpses of this, even though Amin does his best to destroy this. When the film premiered, it was actually taken as a comedy, and Amin was furious, and threatened to kill all French citizens living in Uganda unless Schroeder cut requested parts. Schroeder did, but restored the film once Amin went into exile. The whole project was apparently Amin's idea- a sort of vanity hagiography because he felt he was not respected in the West.

In it, we see all sorts of nutty things, such as Amin's Anti-Semitism, his planned invasion of Israel, his delusions, his staging of events for the film, his love of The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion- the notorious Anti-Semitic fraud, and his alienation and manipulation of his countrymen, who clearly fear him, yet recognize him as a buffoon. Yet, we also see him kind to his 18 children, playing musical instruments, laughing with people as he dances at assorted towns, and exhorting his ministry cabinet to do things on their own accord. We also read bizarre telegrams he sent to many world leaders, and see him clearly lying about his exploits in World War two, when he never served in that conflict. He also claims mystic powers, such as a divination of the date and method of his death; but he never reveals it.

But, that's about all the film offers. It is not artful, it is not deep, it is not well made, and Schroeder never prods Amin at any depth. Yet, somehow it's a good film, all on the back of Amin and his oddities. Néstor Almendros's cinematography is pedestrian, at best, and in one scene Amin actually commands him to shoot a shot of a helicopter coming in. In another he actually predicts a black U.S. President, almost three and a half decades before it happened, and in yet another scene he foresees the modern suicide bomber as a weapon of war, so, in a perverse way he was sort of prescient. General Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait, in some ways, is a time capsule. For those of us growing up in the 1970s he was an almost weekly staple of the nightly news, for one outrageous stunt or another, as well as the fact that he engineered a genocide of nearly half a million people in a nation of only ten million, yet it somehow captures one, and sends one back in time, to relive it as if happening afresh. Schroeder deserves plaudits for the film for, despite Amin's thumb on it, and his own flaws, it does what all worthwhile documentaries does: it tells a story that could only be told once, for Amin was, despite claims to the contrary, one of a kind, and anything but your run of the mill despot. And, I say this only as a man never under his rule: in a strange way this film almost makes one miss the big thug.

I wrote almost.

"..a hauntingly paradoxical look at the avuncular disposition of the despicable despot."

[movedout · 8/10 · 9 October 2006]

In anticipation of a career best performance by Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland", I hunted down the Criterion of this remarkably pieced together composite of General Idi Amin Dada, the forgotten Ugandan tyrant who seized power in the early 70s and ruled it with a murderous fist until his eventual ouster. The records speak for itself. The genocide, the corruption and the paranoid executions of his confidants find its way into the documentary but Barbet Schroeder's unique and darkly humorous focus always stays on the hauntingly paradoxical look at the avuncular disposition of the despicable despot.

Essentially, and with the need to be succinct, the General comes across as a child trapped in the man's body. His small-minded view of the world, his brio for military games and his risible ballroom antics show an incomprehensible rationale for his iron grip. His scheming seductions to the media and to the outside world come through in full force as he looks for the camera before speaking. Idi Amin does not deny his Machiavellian approach to establishing his order but chooses not to dwell on them as he thinks his answers through carefully and elaborates on his imagined successes. Often, he trails off into a deranged rail on foreign countries and other African establishments but conducts himself with a manner of undeniable presence that's as compelling as it is repelling.

The Iranian born director of German extraction is ironically simpatico with Idi Amin's preference of people as Schroeder prods him ever so gently with nervous laughter, like one might daringly try to interest a grumpy Doberman in a game of catch. Schroeder's discernment of the situation he was in with the vain General and his eventual manipulation of him allowed his documentary crew access to a conclave of the state's ministers and military higher-ups. It is where Idi Amin, although aware of the camera's burning gaze, warns death on spies and warns "removal" of inept ministers, leading to Schroeder's unnerving revelation as his camera lingers on the cold, brutality of a killer.

Much of the documentary's humour is inherent. Schroeder does not make any allusions to satire, or even impose a caricature of the man. No, Idi Amin does that all by himself. Armed with a razor sharp wit, he jokes with rooms of people, even resorting to self-deprecating humour that really only he could make. A natural charmer, he comes across early on as the jovial sort, with a disarming innocence that's staggeringly shattered when he takes up arms and spews anti-Israeli sentiments. While extolling the virtues of his mind-boggling economic and military policies, he does it without understanding how and why they do not work. And no one dares to advise him on that either. Very telling is the scene on the boat when he asks the camera crew if he should "ask" the crocodile to leave.

With an ambition the size of Napoleon, Idi Amin considered himself a major leader in the world stage but there's something so terribly amateurish about his regime, much like many other African regimes back then. We don't get to know his precise political thought, he does mention not entirely following the rigidness of communism and capitalism but all it does is underline his resolve to control his country by his terms. Although he lived mainly through the atavistic displays of force, he did show some progressive ideas such as implementing more women in the managerial workforce, albeit only in the hospitality industry. Mixing his awe of modernisation (risking his country's reserves) and grandiosity with his reverence for his region's tradition, Idi Amin saw himself as a revolutionary.

The back-story of this documentary is almost as gripping as the film itself. Schroeder befriended Idi Amin, although a tenuous relationship, he gets him to open up about the things that he wouldn't tell his own cabinet of ministers. He partakes with the General in admittedly staged scenes of overt celebrations and letting him direct himself in exchange for getting him in every shot aside from the scenery (masterfully photographed by Néstor Almendros).

After the filming, Schroeder found himself in a predicament when word got back to Idi Amin after its initial release in France and London that its audience found it to be "funny like a comedy". When his demands for cuts were not met, Idi Amin rounded up the French living in Uganda and threatened their lives if Schroeder did not relent. And of course, he did. Thankfully it was restored after Idi Amin's exile from the country. Even under the restrictive guise of a self-portrait, Schroeder masterfully instills a subtext that even before the cuts, Idi Amin could not properly discern because of his ego. The awkward gazes and listless looks of his employees and citizens are an inside joke for us but a reality for the megalomaniac. Schroeder lets Idi Amin present to us his own insanity within the smiles and guffaws.

Even as the film fails to fully structure the whys and hows of Idi Amin's maniacal views on the world, it does hint at the harsh bleakness of colonialism leaving a bloodstain with each of Idi Amin's actions. But what makes this documentary much more compelling than any straight observation of a tyrannical authoritarian is its own fascination with the subject. Captivated by Idi Amin's charisma, and the creeping sense of dread when the truth is finally mined, the crew found a goldmine of ideas relating to violent dictators throughout history as this documentary shaped up to be a portrait of not just Idi Amin but of all rulers. Controversial and foreboding scenes of him inviting Palestinian terrorists bore fruit years after the release of the film and a chilling symmetry with George W. Bush's war on terror is gleaned when Idi Amin exclaimed that dreams vaticinated his wars.

Worths as a historical reference and nothing more

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 6/10 · 2 August 2011]

The documentary "Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait" directed by Barbet Schroeder ("Murder by Numbers" and "The Reversal of Fortune") presents us the self-portrait of one of the most mindless dictators ever existed, the megalomaniac Idi Amin Dada, Uganda leader from 1971 to 1979. Self-portraits are dangerous in the measure that the audience will only get what the portrayed wants to reveal about himself, which is his good side, after all who wants to show his own bad temper and mean deeds to the world?

It would be a funny picture, since most of the time Dada appears to camera always smiling, joking around about anything (the 'Save the British' fund with Uganda donations destined to England's poor economy at the time was hilarious), if we weren't forced to remember who the man on the screen is and why he's not funny. He might not appear as the cannibal some say he was, or the man who commanded the murder of thousands of people (the film only mentions the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was alive during the making of the film, a voice over explain he was killed two weeks later, presumably because he wasn't effective in his duty), he might not appear as a bad man at all but we can sense his craziness, the absurd in the things he exposes or even in his fight against Israel. The guy is nuts and it was unbelievable someone like him had the chance to be the leader of a nation. But that's what power makes with people, it makes them greedy, blind to other peoples problems, it makes them unreasonable. And he was all that!

The film doesn't add anything interesting but it's not Schroeder's fault, it's Dada's own fault this being something almost irrelevant. He controlled everything, he wanted to present his tender moments with his 18 sons, or his Discovery Channel moments where the crocodiles and a elephant pay tribute to the man (so he thinks that's what the animals are doing). And politically speaking this man and the film have nothing good to say except a enormous contradiction when Idi says he likes Nixon but hates Kissinger, both part of U.S. government. The guy didn't had a clue of what he was saying, making his presence here something laughable rather than a dignifying portrait of his legacy, and he could have made so much more for his country.

It's good for historical references, it has its importance, quite good to watch but that's it. The man illustrated here was so light, so funny and so friendly that Forest Whitaker's Oscar winning performance in "The Last King of Scotland" was more terrifying and more realistic than Dada himself. 6/10

Excellent

[jasonolds442 · 9/10 · 26 October 2006]

I have no idea what the "irrelevant now" comment means. That comment in itself is "irrelevant" and quite "idiotic." Meglomaniac dictators will be around forever. This was the rarest of rare portraits of one. It wasn't a single interview on 60 Minutes, it was a long month-long look into the dictator.

While it doesn't go into the holocaust he perpetrated on the Ugandans (a very valid point above,) the final meeting with the doctors shows exactly the fear and paranoia he felt. It is in the final scene; with Amin breathing heavily into the microphone, gulping down spit, eyes darting around the room in fear, that we can see what led him to kill 300-500,000 of his own people.

Also, when Idi does his Crocodile Hunter impression ("there are more crocodiles here than anywhere in ze vhurld") it is more jarring because it's where and whom he fed the bodies of those he murdered.

Keep in mind as well, that the murders were only beginning when the film was made. The film is effective in showing what led to the holocaust of the Ugandan people.

The Musings of Idi Amin

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 28 January 2022]

In high school I used to play a racing game in the arcade and the computer racers I raced against had some funny names. One of the racers was named Idi A Mean Dada. At that time I had no clue who Idi Amin was, but I thought the name was funny.

"General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait" is only as deep as Idi Amin himself was. Cameras follow him around where we can hear his speeches and interviews which give you a fairly clear sight of who he was as a person. He wasn't as evil as some may describe him and we know he was no saint. I think what's missing most in this documentary is context. What were the conditions of Uganda leading up to the rise, and eventual takeover, of Idi Amin. A man like that does not appear out of nowhere and without the right environment. In short, we needed more.

A Nutshell Review: General Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait

[DICK STEEL · 8/10 · 18 May 2008]

After watching this documentary on Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, you'd come to think that Forest Whitaker's award winning portrayal in The Last King of Scotland had given the military general more intellect, more cunning and definitely a more clear cut look at the nature of the man's evils. But in fact, from what you can glean from this documentary, he seemed to be more fuddy duddy, with surprising charisma whether or not due to his public demeanour, and his semi-illiterateness in the English Language (again, Whitaker made him sound grammatical).

Movies about political leaders are not new, and lately there's one that's also sanctioned by a leader himself, a made by a Singaporean documentary called A Hero's Journey, which presents a snapshot of the life of President Xanana Gusmao of Timor Leste. In this Idi Amin documentary, he has final word on what gets presented, and what not, and it's quite surprising that he's OK with making himself look like a buffoon, whether deliberate or not, leaves much to interpretation of his intent. You might say he wanted to show off what he can do, and what power he wields over his cronies, but on the other, there certainly are plenty of material which could easily have dented his popularity and aura.

Watching him go through his motions just brought about a thought, that evil men need not wear their evilness or ruthlessness on their sleeves. Here, Idi Amin might be the real life personification of The Joker, smiling on the outside, but inside his heart harbours thoughts similar to the mentioned villain. He's like a charismatic comedian, and makes it difficult not to laugh at his atrocities because he really does have a lot of funny ideas. His mastery of the English language is woeful, but that doesn't stop him from speaking it, and the filmmakers subtitling every grammatical error he's made too, instead of correcting it for an audience.

He's a self-professed soothsayer and an interpreter of dreams, and sends strange telegrams to various heads of state which reads like a script for a sitcom. He's often delusional as well, and some of the highlights of this documentary, which has to be seen to be believed, include his imaginary war games to take the Golan Heights from the Israelis given his very puny army, laughable air force and armour, and best of all, training his paratroopers on a children's slide. What cannot be missed as well, are his briefings to the country's doctors and to witness him holding court as one of his cabinet meetings, which was so full of contradictions and hare-brained ideas, you can't help but laugh at the farce of it all.

You can just imagine how any country could be run with jokers like these in power. He can't speak, can't communicate, and basically doesn't even know an iota about running a military (besides the rudimentary appreciation of semi-automatic weapons), let alone a country. He's full of personal prejudice and practices discrimination, but one thing's for sure, he's quite a musician, having contributed to the soundtrack of the film.

If you think you want to go beyond The Last King of Scotland to look at this dictator up close and personal, then this documentary should be your first step in trying to understand the contradiction which is His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, King of Scotland Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular (yes, that's his official title!)

Not really that good a film

[zetes · 5/10 · 5 February 2007]

I watched this as a supplement to The Last King of Scotland, which I saw the previous weekend. It's actually fairly worthless (this one, that is). I mean, there are interesting things going on in the sidelines. But Amin himself controlled very carefully everything Schroeder was allowed to see and film. He wanted to come off as a good man and great leader. Mostly he comes off as a babbling fool. If anything can be gleaned from the film, it's that this guy just wasn't smart enough to run a country. Like any idiot, Amin let his own bigotry and fear make his decisions for him. Much of the documentary consists of the dictator going on and on about the evils of Israel, and how Uganda will defeat them in an eventual war. There's a little bit of interest here, but mostly the film is dull. Would have made a nice special feature on the Last King of Scotland DVD, but unfortunately Criterion already has the film available.

If only it were fiction!

[overfedcinemafan · 9 May 2005]

This film is a documentary/biography piece on Idi Amin Dada, and as such it's the story of an atrocious madman responsible for the murder of thousands.

Be that as it may, if the film were fictional it would be brilliant. Scenes like the off-tune band playing in the background and labeled "revolutionary band" lest anyone confuse them with an establishment or reactionary band, or how Idi uses what looks like a second-hand news helicopter and a rag-tag company of infantry running about in a simulated attach of the Golan Heights are absolutely ridiculous. Lacking an aircraft to train his paratroopers, he simply makes them roll onto the ground from less than 1 m elevation. He goes on a 5 minute rant about how the fruit markets in Nigeria and Ghana are open at 5 AM while Uganda is falling behind. He has more medals on his uniform than there are gold coins left in the treasury when he's done "massaging" and "modernizing" the economy. Almost completely illiterate and certainly not lacking in spontaneity, I.A.D. was probably the biggest lunatic of the late 20th century.

Only see this film if you've got the stomach for him -- few people do, and that's a good thing!

The personification of ultimate evil

[Michael Kenmore · 18 January 2004]

I saw the film on rental DVD which is out of print and very difficult to get ahold of if no out of print VHS copy is available. This is a compelling and fascinating documentary on the former and ousted Uganda dictator Idi Amin Dada who thought it would be ideal as a positive public relations tool to use a documentary film to voice his views. It proved the opposite as you watch the film that maintains truth and objectivity while letting Idi expound his opinions to inform the viewers of his views and justify his decisions as the despotic ruler of Uganda between 1971 and 1979.

It's an amazingly candid documentary about a candid dictator who at first seems like a nice, jollying person to hang out in the beginning of the film but turns out to be a perverted-beyond-humanity, murderous, blood-thirsty schizophrenic psychopath as an illiterate military commander-turned-dictator thirsting and gnawing on bestial cruelty and bloodshed as a stronghold on ultimate power that is a toxin of the mind, heart and soul. The documentary barely shows any atrocity except at the beginning, but the way Idi engages the documentary crew with his inane, egotistical, delusional and bizarre ramblings on-camera should ice-chill the spine of every conscientious viewer who paid attention to watch this historically important film since Idi Amin Dada recently died from multiple organ failure in a Saudi Arabia hospital in August 2003.

For a brief but detailed account of Idi Amin Dada's sheer scope of violence and brutality under the Dada regime, I recommend "The Most Evil Men and Women in History" by Miranda Twiss available only at Barnes & Nobles. It astounds me that one of the worst and most barbaric dictators of the 20th century lived to be an old man without prosecution for crimes against humanity.

Without Barbet Schroeder's brutally honest documentary, we would not be aware of what was inside the warped mind of Idi Amin to justify the horror bestowed upon the victims in the wrong place at the wrong time from all directions in Uganda under his coup d'etat rule.

Truly, we have the real Hannibal Lecter on film and that is General Amin. A rare film that's so bone-chilling it's scary just listening to Amin's speeches with his strange, barely contorted facial expression - and it's in real-life. The embodiment of evil personified by Amin on film.

Schroeder's "Citizen Kane"

[manuel-pestalozzi · 29 March 2004]

I recently watched Orson Welles‘ "Citizen Kane". And then it came to me: Barbet Schroeder's "autoportrait" - albeit a documentary about a real tyrant, and one of the bloodiest ever at that – is in important parts designed directly after the great masterwork of the 1940s. The impression of watching something staged that is apparently real, that's what is so fascinating about this movie.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

It starts with a terrific close up of the portraited: Idi Amin Dada does not whisper "Rosebud". He just breathes heavily, shifting his eyes attentively from left to right and back – it's just as enigmatic. His Xanadu is a Wildlife Park with crocodiles, elephants and exotic birds, a rooftop swimming pool and rolling grassland, where he enacts the destruction of Israel - tanks, jet planes, helicopters and walky-talkies included. In short: The movie shows us Uganda as a boy's dream.

There are no banquets with ice figurines, but there is a "non confidential" cabinet meeting, with rows of identical attaché cases neatly aligned on the long conference table. (You wonder: Were there really no props, no directions at all from the film crew?) There are no showgirls to fête Idi Amin, but the tyrant joins a traditional dance at a formal dinner party, stomping around and wielding a spear with apparent glee. There is no failed opera singer that has to be applauded into success, instead Idi Amin claps at a crocodile after having asked the film crew "shall I make it move"? The crocodile does not or cannot comply with Amin's orders - no one knows what happened to it afterwards.

Like in Citizen Kane, dreams are forced to become true. In fact, they overtake reality – with all the horrible consequences this entails. Both movies are about characters with undeniable charisma who are powerful but for ever immature. One of them is fictional, the other is not. This does not really matter, it actually proves that certain behavior patterns are timeless and universal. They should be guarded closely in the presently globalized world.

Interesting when made, irrelevant now.

[Baldy-13 · 22 April 1999]

I saw this movie in Israel in 1975. At the time Amin was in his heyday and because of his relationship with Israel the film was very interesting, featuring interviews with Amin and him showing off his armed forces.

Today, with Amin a nobody in Saudi Arabia, this film is but an asterisk of history.