Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1981)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Sharad Patel

Writer:

Wade Huie (writer)

Release Date:

May 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Thriller | War

Tagline:

The rage of a maniac... the rape of a people!

Plot:

The chronicle of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and his tyranic rule from 1971 to his overthrow in 1979.

Plot Keywords:

Uganda | Africa | Freezer | Death | Torture

Cast

Joseph Olita	...	Idi Amin
Thomas Baptiste	...	Dr. Michael Oloya
Leonard Trolley	...	Bob Astles
Geoffrey Keen	...	British Ambassador
Louis Mahoney	...	Freedom fighter Ofumbi
André Maranne	...	French Ambassador
Denis Hills	...	Himself
Diane Mercier	...	French Ambassador's Wife
Tony Sibbald	...	Canadian Ambassador Davis
Norbert Okare	...	Kiwanuka
Ka Vundla	...	Malyamungu
Martin Okello	...	Amin Officer
Nicky Giles	...	White Girl
Ann Wanjuga	...	Mrs. Olaya
Gordon Gardner	...	Israeli Ambassador

Also Known As:

Amin: The Rise and Fall (Australia) (USA)

Runtime:

101 min | UK:97 min | USA:91 min

Country:

UK | Kenya

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Norway:18 | USA:R | Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Kenya

Company:

Film Corporation of Kenya

Trivia:

In an episode of Film 2006, broadcast in the UK on 30th October 2006, Jonathan Ross claimed that he had appeared as an extra in this film 1981 movie as an Israeli soldier raiding Entebbe airport.

Quotes:

Idi Amin: Next time you address me, call me Al Hajji Idi Amin Dada, Field Marshal, MC, DSO, CBE - the Conqueror of the British Empire!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

Exploitation classic is too much of a good thing with a crazy man at its center who becomes too much to take

The whole warts story of Idi Amin from the taking of power to his subsequent flight to freedom in Saudi Arabia after Tanzania invaded to put an end to his craziness. This is a film that dwells with Amin's lurid and nasty side as we get little snapshots of all of the terrible tings that he did. Not particularly graphic, much of the nastiness is implied rather than shown. There is no good here only the insane man himself.

This film was a Times Square cinema staple for years prior to the "Disnification" of the area, but other than that this film has been largely unseen for the past 25 years (an early home video release was never repeated and it appears no one has officially released it on DVD). Recently one of the cable channels ran it much to my shock and amusement, since I was finally able to see the film for myself.

As an exploitation film this film is dynamite. Its got sex and violence and more violence and bad behavior and heads in a freezer and everything you could want for a lurid time at the movies. There is a reason this played for years on 42nd Street, namely its feeds into a persons basic need for low brow entertainment while allowing us to be feel we're learning something since its based on real events.

Unfortunately after a while you realize that a little bit goes a long way. With Amin as the focus of the film you never really get any rest from the ever escalating insanity. Its just Amin doing crazy stuff and while thats fun for the first half of the movie, it becomes a bit of a drag for the second. Its a problem that the film shares with Barbet Schroeder's film Idi Amin Dada which is a documentary of Amin in his own words. There is only so much one can take of a crazy man before one has to call it quits.

Still its worth seeing if your tastes tend to be exploitive, and since this is legendary and classic film of that ilk its a must see. Those with out the bug for exploitation films may want to tune into see what the fuss is about, but they'll probably find themselves tuning out after awhile.

5 out of 10 for the half before it repeats itself.