General Idi Amin Dada (A Self Portrait) [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada was but a distant irritation to everyone but his own countrymen and the British Empire until his perfidy became headline material in the early '70s. The first director to provide an in-depth study of this gregarious madman was director Barbet Schroeder, with his General Idi Amin Dada. In this documentary, Schroeder and his crew travel to Uganda to spend several days with the despot, one-on-one. The uncomfortable truths revealed in the film are all the most amazing when one realizes that Schroeder could not release his documentary without Amin's approval. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Subtitle: English
• Features:
  • New digital transfer, supervised by director Barbet Schroeder
  • Exclusive new video interview with Barbet Schroeder
  • Timeline of Ugandan history
  • Documentation of Idi Amin's requested cuts to the film
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

AWARDS

• Telluride Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1975

• Venice International Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1974 (Barbet Schroeder)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Barbet Schroeder

• Screenwriter:

  Barbet Schroeder

• Cinematographer:

  Néstor Almendros

• Editor:

  Denise de Casabianca

REVIEW:

• The commanding presence of the natural actor General Idi Amin Dada dominates every frame of this of-its-time documentary. He is large and forceful, but surprisingly well-spoken, and it's obvious he thinks about things quite a bit. Some of his ideas are dangerous (he smiles approvingly when informing director/interviewer Barbet Schroeder that he knows the Palestinians are training "suicide teams" to terrorize Israel) and simply blue-sky nutty (as when he expresses a desire to teach Swahili to all of the African-Americans in the U.S. so as to foment a secret revolution). It's also very funny to notice that during a swim competition, the burly dictator-for-life miraculously wins against a half-dozen competitors who are much younger and much more svelte. Who wants to beat a guy who could, in the blink of an eye, order your execution for offending him? Not that Amin Dada does anything near that in this "self-portrait" -- there are scenes of military executions without Amin Dada present -- but it's interesting to see that although he has four wives and 18 children, no one in the entire film comes close to him in a friendly manner, chats casually with him, or regards him without obvious fear. The narrative structure barely holds up -- there are long periods of uninteresting material and no inherent drama -- but for those who want to see a despot in action, this offers one-of-a-kind candid insights. Amin Dada's cannibalism, which became a hot topic for a while in the late '70s, isn't addressed. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi