Very good movie, but paints too humanist a view of one who ordered hundreds of thousands killed.

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2007)

This movie was great. But it used too much "license" in the story. As always, Forest Whitaker was outstanding!! However I was disappointed that a lot of the historical aspects were glossed over in the movie. Granted, you probably have to be over 40 to remember Idi Amin, but everything in the news at the time indicated that he was a brutal dictator. And the documentary included with the DVD does capture some of that (it does a better job than the movie of spelling out what he did).
This movie did try to paint a more humanist view of him. But from following the news in the US (in the late 70's), Idi Amin was in effect, the murderer (or ordered the killing) of hundreds of thousands of his countrymen. While I don't need to see the blood and gore that he invoked. The movie glossed over many over the important brutal aspects which portrayed his rule. It barely mentioned the mass graves which are his legacy.
One thing I did learn was that the British put him in power. And for that I can thank the movie. But both my wife and I were left still wondering what drove him to order the killings of so many. Even if it had been speculative, we would have been left with some "educated guess" as to what drove Amin to have hundreds of thousands killed.
Most of the story just took too much "film/story makers license" for me to be left satisfied with it. I could rant on about that but it happens too often now so I won't. I'd still buy the DVD again, it was a good story. But I'd make sure to watch the documentary, it's not that long and gives a more accurate picture of what happened in Uganda during that period.