How to Feed a Dictator review – what was on the menu for some of the world’s most evil men

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Andrew Neel’s documentary contrasts the lavish dishes eaten by heads of repressive states – served by largely unrepentant staff – with the starvation faced by their citizens There are moments in this sly documentary that evoke regular food porn, with crisply lit footage of vegetables being chopped and simmered, meat getting grilled, fat bubbling and browning – all the culinary sizzle is on display. Then there are climactic money shots, obligatory overhead views of the finished product, elegantly garnished, accompanied by text identifying the dish as, say, a Chilean country stew, or a whole roast goat, made precisely to suit the taste of a very specific client. It’s just that the clients these chefs served were despots, including Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Augusto Pinochet and Kim Jong-il. Charles Otonde Odera once prepared a human heart “perfectly” for Amin, though at the time he thought better than to ask where the raw offal came from. Director Andrew Neel and editor Brad Turn...
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Poor Things, Anyone But You, Wish: the biggest films coming to Australia on Boxing Day

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Misbehaving mallards, chiselled leading men and Disney in decline … here’s our guide to what’s about to hit a screen near you

In all my years as a loyal Boxing Day cinema-goer, this particular crop of films might be the strangest. Several films here feel beamed in from an alternate universe; others are decidedly creations of our own ghastly world. There are mawkish dramas, aeriform travelogues, and at least two entries which live and die on the power of their stars’ abs. In other words: fitting diversions. Enjoy!

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