Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait

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!)

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

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.

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.

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.