Rise and Fall of Idi Amin

Really, having always been a big history buff I've long been fascinated by Idi Amin, quite possibly one of the strangest figures of the 20th century; a common criminal, a ruthless dictator, a murderer of millions, and a really flat-out insane yet lovably charming idiotic megalomaniac. This movie had been on my radar for years but was just too hard to find. However I must say "thank you very much" to the wonderful world of grindhouse cinema for finally making this film available to me.

Just watching the first 2 minutes I already knew this movie was going to be good. However, I just did not expect it to be so funny. Amin's atrocities are played up to maximum effect of the time, but in a way so dated, low-budget, and trying-to-be-serious that it slingshots its way into morbid hilarity. Exacerbating this is the pacing, which never stops to worry about things like "character development" or "plot" but just zips along from horror to horror filling in the vague historical details with lots of violence and lurid sex thrown in for good measure.

AMIN: RISE AND FALL is certainly not perfect. It's cheap and rather flatly directed but the cinematography and editing are certainly serviceable. Acting is literally all over the map with a lot of the extras just goofing around (check out the Amin supporter who he awards the Indian shop to) and a lot of others really trying hard to make this thing a powerful event picture. Mismatched stock footage and strangeness abound, but it all sort of fits in with the goofy grindhouse exploitation experience of the whole thing.

The actor portraying Amin does it with such gusto that it's hard to remember you're not watching a cartoon character but actually a realistic portrayal of a historical madman. It makes the experience of watching this film even more emotionally complex, realizing all this insanity actually happened, hundreds of thousands of innocent people died, and the economy of the country was ruined all on account of this lunatic. To top it all off he totally got away with it all and escaped to live out his days as a wealthy man in Saudi Arabia! What's just mind-boggling is that so many others just stood around and partook in the madness. What were those crookedly complicit Ugandan generals all thinking when he started awarding medals to his six-year-old son or ordering bombs to be dropped next to his own wedding? AMIN: RISE AND FALL is sleazy as all hell but certainly no disappointment for fans of this sort of thing. It would fit in well on a double or triple bill with Africa ADDIO or GOODBYE UNCLE TOM.

As a child, I lived in Kenya and remember the time when my father went to Kampala for business. But then Milton Obote was overthrown and Idi Amin came into power. A few months later, our business in Kampala had to be shut down and soon after that, Amin ordered all Indians to leave Uganda. Some came across the border into Kenya but most went to England and remained there. It was only later that the news began to come out of the Uganda on how brutal as well as cruel the Ugandan dictator really was.

In the early 1970's Idi Amin overthrew President Milton Obote. The coup was supported by many but soon they this turned ugly and Amin ordered the Indians to leave Uganda. He also started to deal with anyone who opposed him, or, said anything against him. His critics, as well as his opponents are put in prisons and are tortured and killed. At the same time he raped women and did not care for diplomacy - even on International level. At one point he orders the British Ambassdor to kneel before him and at the same time, he calls himself "The King of Scotland."

Directed by Sharad Patel, The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, is filmed in Kenya and has multi cast, which includes the most well known Kenyan actor, who was also a newscaster on what was then "Voice of Kenya," Norbert Okare as the judge that Amin orders to be killed. Jospeh Olita has done an excellent job as "Idi Amin." If at all possible, for those who think that they can watch such a "bloody" (this is not used in swearing sense at all but in real terms of the word) film. And those who would like to know what it was like under Idi Amin, then this is a film that is worth while to watch.

As a matter of interest and as the movie was filmed in Kenya, the scene that depicts Indians leaving their businesses, homes, shops, etc, was filmed with real Indians and not actors in the capital, Naiorbi, in the area of "River Road," which at the time did consist of shops owned by Indians. A lot of the Indians were actually invited to participate in that scene. The swimming pool scene was filmed at the "Nairobi Gymnkhana," which was known as "Patel Club" as well.

The whole warts story of Idi Amin from the taking of power to his subsequent flight to freedom in Saudi Arabia after Tanzania invaded to put an end to his craziness. This is a film that dwells with Amin's lurid and nasty side as we get little snapshots of all of the terrible tings that he did. Not particularly graphic, much of the nastiness is implied rather than shown. There is no good here only the insane man himself.

This film was a Times Square cinema staple for years prior to the "Disnification" of the area, but other than that this film has been largely unseen for the past 25 years (an early home video release was never repeated and it appears no one has officially released it on DVD). Recently one of the cable channels ran it much to my shock and amusement, since I was finally able to see the film for myself.

As an exploitation film this film is dynamite. Its got sex and violence and more violence and bad behavior and heads in a freezer and everything you could want for a lurid time at the movies. There is a reason this played for years on 42nd Street, namely its feeds into a persons basic need for low brow entertainment while allowing us to be feel we're learning something since its based on real events.

Unfortunately after a while you realize that a little bit goes a long way. With Amin as the focus of the film you never really get any rest from the ever escalating insanity. Its just Amin doing crazy stuff and while thats fun for the first half of the movie, it becomes a bit of a drag for the second. Its a problem that the film shares with Barbet Schroeder's film Idi Amin Dada which is a documentary of Amin in his own words. There is only so much one can take of a crazy man before one has to call it quits.

Still its worth seeing if your tastes tend to be exploitive, and since this is legendary and classic film of that ilk its a must see. Those with out the bug for exploitation films may want to tune into see what the fuss is about, but they'll probably find themselves tuning out after awhile.

5 out of 10 for the half before it repeats itself.

RISE AND FALL OF IDI AMIN has a very special significance for me because it's the very first movie I saw on video . It was late Autumn 1982 and the video recorder was really making waves on the home entertainment front and these were the days when there was little censorship as to what you could watch on video

This may have been a slight problem for RISE AND FALL OF IDI AMIN , while not being a true video nasty in the sense that it was later banned on home video like I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE etc it did become very very difficult to find after video censorship was brought into this country by the BBFC . It is a knowingly exploitative movie with some very shocking scenes of violence: People literally lose gallons of blood after being stabbed or shot , there's scenes of cannabilism and there's a very infamous scene in an Ugandan torture chamber where a man is hit over the head with a crow bar causing a fountain of blood to explode from his head

Being in such a hurry to shock the audience the producers haven't made such a good job of explaining as to why Amin became such a cruel despot and everything seems to have skimmed over . That said there's no denying that the producers want the audience to know just how cruel Amin is - If he takes a liking to a woman he'll have her partner murdered by his goons and he'll force himself upon her , any journalists asking too many questions will be given a fair trial before they're executed and how many dictators have kicked out Asian Muslims from their country while holding the Israelis to ransom ? Perhaps the scene that sums up " Dada " the best is when someone tries to explain economics with him :

" If we don't get inflation under control then the currency will be as worthless as toilet paper "

" Sh*t paper ! SH*T PAPER . You call Ugandan money sh*t paper . Sargeant take this man outside and show him what we do to sh*t "

which seems to suggest he was nothing more than an ignorant thug who after becoming head of state became a meglomaniac too . Joseph Olita while not exactly being in the Morgan Freeman class of acting does at least bare a close physical resemblance to Amin and unlike Yaphet Kotto in RAID ON ENTEBBE does at least project some of the deranged despot's personality on screen , and talking of the Entebbe raid see what Amin did while the IDF were saving the hostages !

As I said this has special significance for me . It's a film I remember because of the circumstances I saw it rather than the film itself having any outstanding qualities . It's not bad but it is violent exploitation rather than a bio-pic and when someone makes THE RISE AND FALL OF SADDAM I hope they just don't concentrate on the torture scenes

I don't know how these gooses end up as presidents, but it happens way too often. Anyway I laughed at the rubbish that comes out of amin's mouth, whenever he makes a mistake, he asks some British dude how to make himself look less ridiculous. Senseless killings, cannibalism, it's all there to see, worth watching, you would laugh more if this was fiction, knowing these atrocities actually happened makes it more of a somber affair. the main actor played idi amin well and kept me motivated to finish this monstrosity of a movie, being history, this is worth watching and if it helps i found it on youtube in VHS quality which made me go way back in time. I won't be watching a rerun, that's for sure.