Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

bandw 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.

overfedcinemafan This film is a documentary/biography piece on Idi Amin Dada, and as such it's the story of an atrocious madman responsible for the murder of thousands.Be that as it may, if the film were fictional it would be brilliant. Scenes like the off-tune band playing in the background and labeled "revolutionary band" lest anyone confuse them with an establishment or reactionary band, or how Idi uses what looks like a second-hand news helicopter and a rag-tag company of infantry running about in a simulated attach of the Golan Heights are absolutely ridiculous. Lacking an aircraft to train his paratroopers, he simply makes them roll onto the ground from less than 1 m elevation. He goes on a 5 minute rant about how the fruit markets in Nigeria and Ghana are open at 5 AM while Uganda is falling behind. He has more medals on his uniform than there are gold coins left in the treasury when he's done "massaging" and "modernizing" the economy. Almost completely illiterate and certainly not lacking in spontaneity, I.A.D. was probably the biggest lunatic of the late 20th century.Only see this film if you've got the stomach for him -- few people do, and that's a good thing!

Michael Kenmore I saw the film on rental DVD which is out of print and very difficult to get ahold of if no out of print VHS copy is available. This is a compelling and fascinating documentary on the former and ousted Uganda dictator Idi Amin Dada who thought it would be ideal as a positive public relations tool to use a documentary film to voice his views. It proved the opposite as you watch the film that maintains truth and objectivity while letting Idi expound his opinions to inform the viewers of his views and justify his decisions as the despotic ruler of Uganda between 1971 and 1979. It's an amazingly candid documentary about a candid dictator who at first seems like a nice, jollying person to hang out in the beginning of the film but turns out to be a perverted-beyond-humanity, murderous, blood-thirsty schizophrenic psychopath as an illiterate military commander-turned-dictator thirsting and gnawing on bestial cruelty and bloodshed as a stronghold on ultimate power that is a toxin of the mind, heart and soul. The documentary barely shows any atrocity except at the beginning, but the way Idi engages the documentary crew with his inane, egotistical, delusional and bizarre ramblings on-camera should ice-chill the spine of every conscientious viewer who paid attention to watch this historically important film since Idi Amin Dada recently died from multiple organ failure in a Saudi Arabia hospital in August 2003.For a brief but detailed account of Idi Amin Dada's sheer scope of violence and brutality under the Dada regime, I recommend "The Most Evil Men and Women in History" by Miranda Twiss available only at Barnes & Nobles. It astounds me that one of the worst and most barbaric dictators of the 20th century lived to be an old man without prosecution for crimes against humanity. Without Barbet Schroeder's brutally honest documentary, we would not be aware of what was inside the warped mind of Idi Amin to justify the horror bestowed upon the victims in the wrong place at the wrong time from all directions in Uganda under his coup d'etat rule.Truly, we have the real Hannibal Lecter on film and that is General Amin. A rare film that's so bone-chilling it's scary just listening to Amin's speeches with his strange, barely contorted facial expression - and it's in real-life. The embodiment of evil personified by Amin on film.

Hessian499 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.