Nothing new, just old stereotypes, disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (3 January 2008)

This was a disappointing movie.
I had expected some new insights into how Amin came into power, about Amin's upbringing, about his personality, maybe even about the people of Uganda in the 70ies.
What I got was a a film that culminates in atrocities against a Scotsman and those he had brought into trouble through his naivety, a film that is not about the atrocities against 100.000s of Ugandans.
Do the filmmakers really think that western audiences aren't ready for stories told from a non-white point of view? If so, why should such a movie that mainly repeats what is already known about Uganda (and reiterates old western stereotypes), have a positive impact on western audiences?
What the old stereotypes are? Just to pick one: the Scotsman gets laid with two African women, while the white missionary woman resists his looks and youth and charm ("I cannot do this"). Was she more afraid of her priest husband than Amin's wife Kay of her mass murdering spouse? Or is British female morality and virtue just superior to that of African women as the old stereotype would go? The answer is obvious.