From 1971 until 1979, General Idi Amin Dada ruled Uganda with an iron fist; estimates assume 300,000 people died under his dictatorship. In 1974, Dada agreed to let French filmmaker Barbet Schroeder make a portrait of him. The result is an eye-opening film that should not be missed by anybody with an interest in the human capacity for evil.

Up close, the monster doesn't resemble anything so much as a rich, loudmouthed uncle - the guy you tried to get away from at family reunions when you were a kid. One absolutely chilling sequence shows Amin as avuncular tour guide on a river cruise, shooing crocodiles and waving at elephants. Moments later, prompted by Schroeder's careful questioning, he laughs off comments he had made about Hitler not killing enough Jews. This is a jovial uncle who likes to murder, maim, and joke about it.

"Idi Amin Dada" is a frightening document on the banality of evil: apparently, stupidity, carelessness, and a certain freedom from doubt are all it takes to send hundreds of thousands to their deaths. General Dada was no Darth Vader or Dr. Evil, no grandiose murder with plans and doomsday machines - he's a small-minded, undereducated bully in a fancy uniform going on and on (and on) about his "revolutionary" government, always with a smile on his face.

When the film premiered in France, Idi Amin requested that Schroeder take out several short scenes that illuminated the reality behind the dictator's friendly façade. When Schroeder refused to comply, Amin rounded up 150 French citizens in Uganda and threatened to kill them. Schroeder made the changes and informed audiences that they were, in fact, watching a movie co-edited by Idi Amin himself. Only after his fall from power, the film was restored to its original version. Criterion included a documentation on the changes, along with a useful Ugandan timeline and an interview with Barbet Schroeder on the DVD.