Amin Quotes

(on his role in The Last King of Scotland (2006)) I did a massive amount to prepare for this. First of all I started learning Swahili, learning the accent, then I had to do study all the recording as well as all the books, tapes, documentaries. When I went to Uganda I met with his [Idi Amin`s) brother, sister, his ministers, his generals and even to the Ugandan king. I did more research for this role than any other character I`ve probably ever played.

I`m not trying to defend him, the Amin I found was not a good man.

When I first decided to act Amin, I had that perception of Amin as presented by the west,

(On his role in The Last King of Scotland (2006)) "It was an experience that changed my life and my thoughts. I went there with the purpose of understanding what it was like to be Ugandan, and I wanted to understand the food, the life, the way they deal with children and wives and with authority figures. I sat with Idi Amin`s brother underneath a big mango tree and he told me stories about what Idi was like and how he used to come to town and pull together soccer or rugby games. It all helped me with figuring out the way he behaved and the way he thought, so that 24 hours a day, even in my dreams, I was totally consumed by the character of Idi Amin. It wasn`t until the movie was over that I decided I could let go of the character, so the first thing I did was take a shower because I figured I could wash him off by scrubbing myself. I was in a room by myself, so I started yelling to get his voice out of me and get my own voice back."

Amin managed to invite both the US and Soviet ambassadors to his palace at the very same time and then deliberately kept them together in his waiting room.

Amin is the shame of the whole world. The fact that he managed to rule so long and commit so many crimes was only possible thanks to the hypocrisy of the East and the West who were waging the Cold War for world domination.

He killed his enemies because he was afraid they would kill him. Amin ordered entire tribes to be put to death, because he feared they would rebel.

Amin knew that neither West nor East would criticize him for fear that he would support the other side. He felt he was untouchable and he said so openly.

At that time Uganda had four aircraft, one of which was at the exclusive disposal of Amin. It would fly to London on shopping trips for the president and his entourage. In Uganda there was nothing.

Amin hid nothing. Everybody knew everything. Yet the American Senate only introduced a resolution breaking off trade with Amin three months before his overthrow.