Barbet Schroeder’s 1974 documentary GENERAL IDI AMIN DADA [A SELF PORTRAIT] feels like a chilling demonstration of the saying 'give 'em enough rope.' Schroeder essentially allows Idi Amin to control what's shown, simply pointing the camera and letting events unfold. Besides lengthy processions featuring his military, which clearly lacks sufficient equipment—one scene shows paratroopers training with a metal playground slide while people laugh—the film also includes moments of Amin attempting to communicate with animals, urging government officials to be more masculine, advising doctors at hospitals about avoiding intoxication, telling Tanzania’s leader he would gladly marry him if not for his gray hair and certain physical attributes, and making references to his sexual prowess in relation to the gender of his children. It would be simple to dismiss all this as humorous if Amin didn't also make casual anti-Semitic remarks, authorize public executions of those who opposed him, send letters to the United Nations suggesting Hitler hadn’t been extreme enough, and ultimately oversee the deaths of approximately 300,000 Ugandans. Amin portrays himself as a cheerful embodiment of wickedness; an approachable megalomaniac who forced his way into international attention and left his country devastated by violence.

Source on TMDB