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IMDbPro

General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait

Original title: Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait
  • 19741974
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
Documentary
A documentary on the military dictator of Africa's Uganda.A documentary on the military dictator of Africa's Uganda.A documentary on the military dictator of Africa's Uganda.
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
    • Barbet Schroeder
    • Barbet Schroeder(commentary)
    • Idi Amin
    • Fidel Castro(archive footage)
    • Golda Meir(archive footage)
    • Barbet Schroeder
    • Barbet Schroeder(commentary)
    • Idi Amin
    • Fidel Castro(archive footage)
    • Golda Meir(archive footage)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 15User reviews
    • 39Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos10

    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)
    Idi Amin in General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Idi Amin
    Idi Amin
    • Self
    • (as Idi Amin Dada)
    Fidel Castro
    Fidel Castro
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Golda Meir
    Golda Meir
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
      • Barbet Schroeder
      • Barbet Schroeder(commentary) (uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #153.
    • Quotes

      Idi Amin: [a Telegram to Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania] I want to assure you that I love you very much, and if you had been a woman I would have considered marrying you although your head is full of grey hairs, but as you are a man that possibility does not arise.

    • Connections
      Edited into Amin: The Rise and Fall (1981)

    User reviews15

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    Worths as a historical reference and nothing more
    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
    helpful•2
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    • Rodrigo_Amaro
    • Aug 2, 2011

    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 30, 1976 (United States)
      • France
      • Switzerland
      • Criterion Collection
      • English
      • Swahili
      • French
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Uganda
    • Production companies
      • Le Figaro
      • Mara Films
      • Télévision Rencontre
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 32 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

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