Tear Jerker / General Idi Amin Dada: A Self-Portrait

• The opening scene depicts various executions that Amin ordered during and after his coup. Just seeing how casually the soldiers fire on their own defenseless countrymen tells viewers all they need to know about Amin's regime.
• Scattered throughout the film are shots of Ugandan people languishing on the streets or wandering around aimlessly. Even worse, they're usually placed right after Amin proclaims the great economic and social advances he's brought to the country.
• The scene where Amin shows off his various children in his mansion's backyard starts off normally, but soon grows uneasy when one of his young daughters starts crying. Amin initially tries to calm her down, but soon gives up and wanders to the other side of the yard to continue the documentary without another comforting word.
  • What makes it even worse is that the viewer can't really tell whether Amin did it out of malice or not. If so, it shows how genuinely uncaring he is for anyone else, even his own children. However, it also could've been Amin did want to comfort her, but simply had no idea how to do so and left out of frustration. Either way, the implications are heartbreaking.
• Oddly enough, the final shot of the film. Though seemingly a Moment of Awesome for the doctor making Idi Amin so insecure, it also highlights a little bit of Amin's humanity simply through focusing on his face: an expression of arrogant anger slowly slipping into a look of confusion and fear. It just goes to show that no matter how far gone Amin may be, he's still as vulnerable as anybody else.