In 1971, self-styled dictator General Idi Amin Dada took control of Uganda; director Barbet Schroeder turns his cameras on the dynamic, charming, and appallingly dangerous tyrant.
Occasionally, and surprisingly, the man seems prepared to laugh at himself: one of the few unexpected features in an otherwise profoundly depressing and exploitative film.
"General Idi Amin Dada" is the 1974 documentary that Forest Whitaker watched in order to hone his performance for "The Last King of Scotland." It is ironic because the movie consists almost entirely of the dictator giving a performance in front of a courageous camera crew hoping to expose Amin for the monster he
is.(The documentary was filmed when it was known about some of his crimes but the true depth of the horrors of Amin's reign would not be known for a few years yet.) What they do get on tape is him making antisemitic(as would Nixon at about the same time) and anti-Israel statements. A couple of years later this philosophy of hatred would be behind his reasoning for harboring a hijacked airliner which would be condemned internationally. In this documentary, there is a great deal of footage of General Amin reviewing his troops and very little of his ruling philosophy, if he ever had one. He claims to be a revolutationary but neither capitalist or communist. Revolutions always cause a huge amount of damage, so it is best to have a plan what the new society will look like when starting out. One cannot uproot a society haphazardly as Amin did when he evicted Uganda's Asian population overnight, destroying Uganda's economy in the bargain.
November 9, 2007
Walter M.
Super Reviewer
Staged documentary by the dictator himself. This dude ain't right. Scary beliefs, but very charismatic. I wanted to see this before I saw Last King of Scotland.
April 29, 2007
Cody Usher
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