In 1971, Uganda was taken over by self-styled dictator General Idi Amin Dada. His reign of terror resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. This film reveals the infamous tyrant as the dynamic, charming, and appallingly dangerous man whose fanatical neuroses held an entire nation in their grip.

Directed by Barbet Schroeder–who worked as a critic, jazz concert producer and news photographer before delving into filmmaking–this is a radical self-chronicle of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada. Made with the tyrant’s full participation, the film is a chilling, darkly comic reflection on power.