In which I attempt to watch every film in The Criterion Collection and end up watching a lot that aren't. Click here for the rating system.

Tuesday

General Idi Amin Dada

"Who's Your Dada, Uganda?"

Here's a film that speaks volumes without saying a word... All the words are said by Idi Amin Dada himself, dictator of Uganda and murderer of thousands of his own people (at one point the director recalls the electricity going down because too many bodies were being dumped at night into the Nile and the crocodiles couldn't keep up). Barbet Schroeder pretty much lets the camera run on the man himself only adding commentary in crucial moments. Like when explaining that the man we see on camera being berated by Dada will be dead two weeks after the film is shot.

Good stuff. A close look at a meglomaniac and an interesting look at the history of Uganda.

Favorite Moments: Swim race, crocodiles, "completely."

 
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