Forest Whitaker’s Portrait of a Dictator who expelled Indians from Uganda is excellent. Worth Oscar performance.
Amin gave Uganda’s 50,000 Indians (mostly Indians of Gujarati origin) 90 days to leave the country, following an alleged dream in which, he claimed, God told him to expel them. Their expulsion resulted in a significant decline in Uganda’s Hindu and Muslim population.Many Indians owned big businesses in Uganda and many Indians were born in the country, their ancestors having come from India to Uganda when the country was still a British colony. Those who remained were deported from the cities to the countryside, although most Asians were granted asylum in the United Kingdom.[3] Ugandan soldiers during this period engaged in theft and violence against the Indians with impunity.
The film follows his story, seen through the eyes of a young Scottish doctor who finds himself thrust into Amin’s inner circle.
Both charismatic and cruel, Amin was accused of ordering the killings of an estimated 300,000 people before he was deposed and forced to flee to Saudi Arabia in 1979.
During his rule, he gave himself a g*****ose title – His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, King of Scotland Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.
Whitaker spent months in Uganda interviewing the dictator’s family members and also with former government officials. He talked with those who had suffered at the hands of Amin. He even learned enough Swahili so that he could ad-lib dialogue with the Ugandan actors and extras working on the film.
Though Uganda had only 6% Muslim , Amin with help from Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi wanted to turn Uganda into an Islamic state.