General Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait

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A rare chance to see the real Idi Amin (as portrayed by Forest Whitaker in the Oscar-winning "The Last King of Scotland") in this mind-boggling documentary about one of the twentieth century's most reviled dictators. If it were fiction it would be acclaimed as a comic masterpiece... but it is all true. With an ambition the size of Napoleon, Idi Amin considered himself a major leader and revolutionary on the world stage. In reality, his regime was amateurish, disorganised, and his maniacal command was at once both hilarious and bizarre. Knowing that Amin put at least 300,000 people to death between 1971 and 1979 gives the film a uniquely chilling tone. Through his anti-Semitic rages, fetish for artillery and military power, and the aggression that drifts through almost every speech, this seemingly amiable, thoroughly pompous despot attempts to transform himself into a figure of heroic proportions. Idi Amin gave himself the title: "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". Amazingly, General Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait was made with the full support and participation of Amin himself. The Director Barbet Schroeder (Maitresse, Barfly, Single White Female) lets Amin do all the work, and instead of the carefully managed PR piece Amin clearly hoped for, we instead see a preening, vain, psychotic clown who aspires to be Africa's Hitler.

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