This documentary is unique in its approach because it provides what director Barbet Schroeder calls a self portrait of one of the most interesting leaders in modern times, Uganda’s Idi Amin.
It shows how disarmingly charming Amin was. In fact it is hard to reconcile the almost childlike behavior of Amin with the fact that he was responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths while dictator.

In one scene he upbraids his foreign minister for not portraying Uganda well in the world press in a comfortable and easygoing tone. That minister’s body is discovered in the Nile two weeks later.
Schroeder, who was interviewed in 2001 as part of the re-release of the film on DVD, wonders aloud if his film had anything to do with the events that happened in Entebbe two years after “General Idi Amin Dada” was shown.
In the documentary, Amin said he would welcome Palestinians who come to his country. In 1976, Palestinians hijacked an Air France plane leaving Tel Aviv and sought refuge in the airport at Entebbe, Uganda. Israeli commandos stormed the airport and rescued most of the 250 hostages.
Amin was a complicated man with provocative views on world affairs, like his hatred of Israel. He also claimed to be an adherent to the philosophy of the nonaligned movement during the Cold War.

The DVD also has an interesting timeline about Uganda which ends in 2001. In 2003, Amin died in Saudi Arabia where he had lived since he fled Libya in 1981. He had moved to Libya in 1979 after bumbling the war with Tanzania.
This documentary is excellent in the way it allows the viewer into the presence of one of the worst human rights offenders the world has ever seen.
“General Idi Amin Dada” is now available on DVD.

Murphy can be reached at Lojano@comcast.net

This interesting documentary chronicles the life of Robert McNamara, who served as Secretary of Defense during the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War.
At 85 years old, McNamara comes off as a much younger person because of his energy and sharp observations.
The segment dealing with the Cuban missile crisis is absolutely bone chilling because of how close the world came to nuclear war.

Also, McNamara tells how he believes the United States would have scaled down and eventually removed its presence in Vietnam had President John F. Kennedy not been assassinated.
He talks about the mistakes that were made during the Vietnam War, including the actions that led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that brought the United States deeper into the war.
One interesting anecdote is about how a senior Vietnamese official told McNamara that they viewed the United States as just another colonial power trying to rule in the vacuum left by the French in 1954. That official also told McNamara that the idea that North Vietnam was allied with China was absurd because the Vietnamese had been fighting the Chinese for 1,000 years.

“The Fog of War” allows McNamara the time to reminisce about the various stages in his life: he was a colonel in the air force during World War II, a Harvard business school graduate, and president of the Ford Motor Company. The way he was recruited by Kennedy to serve as Secretary of Defense is an intriguing story.
“The Fog of War” is available on DVD.

Murphy can be reached at Lojano@comcast.net

“They are truly evil, evil people.”
That from U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle who spent 18 months in Sudan’s Darfur region as a ceasefire observer with the African Union.
He was referring to the Janjaweed, militias funded by the government in Khartoum who regularly rape and pillage not only villages but also refugee camps.

Steidle took hundreds of photos showing the genocide happening there where as many as 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced.
He also became an activist, talking to anyone who would listen about the atrocities perpetrated in Darfur.
Steidle’s efforts have not been fruitless: in March 2009 the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This documentary shows Steidle on the ground in Darfur armed with a camera. The camera also lingers on many refugees who tell their stories about being uprooted and losing many family members to attacks by the Janjaweed.
 

“The Devil Came on Horseback” also shows how Steidle changed because of what he saw in Darfur. The audience can’t help but empathize with him because he is an American citizen who has to come to terms with the evil he sees every day in a foreign land.
While there is scant background information about the root causes of the genocide in Darfur, this film explores the human cost involved and does that well.
Viewer beware: there are many graphic photos showing horrific things done to those in Darfur.
“The Devil Came on Horseback” is available on DVD.

Murphy can be reached at Lojano@comcast.net