General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974)

A documentary on the military dictator of Africa's Uganda.

Director:

Barbet Schroeder

Stars:

Idi Amin, Fidel Castro, Golda Meir

Cast

Cast overview:
Idi Amin	...	Self (as Idi Amin Dada)

Storyline

Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait is an extended character study of its subject. It follows Amin closely in a series of formal and informal settings, combined with several short interviews in which Amin expounds his unconventional theories of politics, economics, and international relations. Amin is seen supervising the Ugandan paratrooper school, boating through a wildlife park, playing the accordion in a jazz band at a formal dinner, and staging a mock assault on a small hill representing the Golan Heights. He discusses his plans for an attack on Israel, and his letter to Kurt Waldheim, then Secretary General of the United Nations sent in response to the 1972 Munich massacre, which commended Hitler, is touched upon. On a TV program, it is announced Amin is in possession of a 'manual' which details Israel's plans: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

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Plot Keywords:

despotic rule | africa | dictator | uganda | idi amin | 

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Taglines:

An Authorized Portrait by Barbet Schroeder

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Quotes

Idi Amin: I come from a very poor family. I wanted to tell you this.

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Connections

Edited into Amin: The Rise and Fall (1981)

User Reviews

Worths as a historical reference and nothing more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

Details

Official Sites:

Criterion Collection

Country:

France Switzerland

Language:

English Swahili French

Release Date:

30 August 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait

Filming Locations:

Uganda

Company Credits

Production Co:

Le Figaro, Mara Films, Télévision Rencontre

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1