Amin: The Rise and Fall (1981)

Before there was The Last King of Scotland, there was this. A no-holds-barred gut punch of political sleaze and true-life horror straight out of the exploitation playbook. Shot on location in East Africa and soaked in raw 16mm grit, it chronicles the bloodthirsty reign of Idi Amin—tyrant, butcher, and self-declared god among men.

This is not some polished prestige biopic. This is a descent into hell. Mass executions, disappearances, and unchecked power play out in lurid detail as Uganda turns into a killing field. Bodies pile up, paranoia reigns, and madness takes center stage as the once-celebrated leader spirals into full-blown megalomania. Foreign diplomats, terrified citizens, and even his own generals are caught in the blast radius.

Sharad Patel directs like a man on a mission, delivering a ferocious slab of cinema that pulls from both Cannibal Apocalypse and Zulu with a dash of docu-drama edge. Joseph Olita is terrifyingly perfect as the madman himself, giving a performance that feels ripped from the headlines and doused in gasoline. The score by Christopher Gunning lingers like a ghost, and Harvey Harrison’s cinematography captures every brutal moment with sweaty intensity. A true essential for fans of political nasties, VHS-era warfare, and grindhouse history lessons that hit like a machete to the face.

• 95 minutes
• STANDARD VERSION (non-anamorphic)
• English audio sound
• DVD is NTSC format, Region 0 (region free) playable world wide