General Idi Amin Dada

Barbet Schroeder went to Uganda in 1974 to film Idi Amin, and Amin took it for his official portrait. He staged rallies, ordered manoeuvres, opened a cabinet meeting to the camera, and talked, endlessly. Schroeder's only real move was not to cut him off. The result is a man exhibiting himself: a joke in one sentence, a threat in the next, and no awareness of the join. There is no narration anywhere in it because none is required. The regime was three years old at this point and would leave hundreds of thousands dead, so where the ridiculous stops and the terrifying starts is never clear, which is exactly the film's design. Who it is for: viewers interested in political documentary and in how power narrates itself. Who it is not for: anyone wanting commentary and context, since the film explains nothing.