MovieChat Forums > Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1976) Discussion > Was this movie effective?

Was this movie effective?

posted 18 years ago by freddythreepwood
4 replies | jump to latest

I guess the answer is kind of a mixed bag for me. On the one side - it did bring out the klutz factor of his personality. I didn't really know that the butcher was also a bozo. That was a revelation.

On the other hand, someone watching this movie without knowing much about Idi Amin to begin with, would probably conclude that he was just a nutcase dictator who bumped off some officials he didn't like, so big deal. I think the movie did a bad job of portraying his fundamentally evil/genocidal/bloodthirsty personality.

You can't make a movie about Idi Amin or Pol Pot without lingering over the holocausts they caused. Everything else is secondary. Even if they played the accordion really well.

[–] leiter-1 18 years ago

That was the point really. One of the ways certain leaders rise to power is by pretending to be something they are not. Amin was no fool. One of the great things about watching this is trying to figure out whether he was a fool or whether it was a ploy to disarm potential enemys, which he saw everywhere. I still can't say myself.

[–] nosnojsirhc 18 years ago

It's a hilarious movie and shows what kind of people seek power. Anywhere.

[–] noilie 17 years ago

People knew at the time of the film's release that Idi Amin was a bloodthirsty tin pot dictator. Everyone in the world knew. Idi Amin was a sort of an anti-celebrity at the time. Somewhat akin to Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe in the present.(Interestingly enough, Mugabe is also interested in keeping up appearances, and also fails ridiculously.) Newspapers worldwide carried cartoons lampooning Amin's outlandish personality and deeds. Making a film condemning his crimes would have been beside the point (precisely because everyone knoew he was a monster anyway). This film is far more interesting than the usual History channel-type condemnation because of what it doesn't show, or rather what it does show (that being the banality of evil).

[–] leiter-1 17 years ago

Indeed yes, good point!