0:00:03 > 0:00:06In recent years, the world's become an unsettling place.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09We've experienced financial meltdown,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13the mass movement of refugees and political upheaval,
0:00:13 > 0:00:15both in this country and abroad.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23The result is that many old certainties appear far less certain
0:00:23 > 0:00:25and history shows that in troubled times
0:00:25 > 0:00:28people often turn to someone who promises
0:00:28 > 0:00:30they can fix all the problems,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33if only they're granted supreme power.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36And that is the appeal of the dictator.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39It's never a problem to find potential dictators.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44My search through the archives of the ground-breaking history series
0:00:44 > 0:00:49Timewatch and 60 years of BBC documentaries shows how film-makers
0:00:49 > 0:00:51are drawn to dictators...
0:00:52 > 0:00:56..for the compelling stories they make.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57Who will fight with me today?
0:00:57 > 0:01:03I'll see how television analyses the strongmen of ancient history
0:01:03 > 0:01:04and the modern dictators
0:01:04 > 0:01:07who used the moving image as a means of control.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14There's a famous saying that power tends to corrupt and absolute power
0:01:14 > 0:01:15corrupts absolutely.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19I'll examine the rise and fall of the most recent dictators
0:01:19 > 0:01:23followed by television cameras in ever closer detail.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Some believe that, once in power, he had gone mad.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31So why are dictators such an object of fascination?
0:01:31 > 0:01:34And does our fascination feed their power?
0:01:50 > 0:01:54The man who wrote that absolute power corrupts absolutely
0:01:54 > 0:01:56knew a thing or two about power.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02He lived in this grand country house,
0:02:02 > 0:02:03Aldenham Park in Shropshire...
0:02:06 > 0:02:10..a fine place to think about dictators, old and new.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17It's the home of Sir John Dalberg-Acton - Lord Acton.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21A politician and an influential historian,
0:02:21 > 0:02:26he's now chiefly remembered for that one compelling statement uttered in
0:02:26 > 0:02:291887, 130 years ago.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32Not many people, I suspect,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36are aware of the line that followed that famous quote.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39"Great men are almost always bad men."
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Lord Acton was not somebody who minced his words.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45Heil...
0:02:45 > 0:02:48But what I'm going to explore, through the film archive,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52is why those who are bad and corrupt are so watchable.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Hitler alone has been the subject of thousands of films,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00documentaries and books.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05But then, the brilliance of the Nazis was to realise very early
0:03:05 > 0:03:10the compelling power of imagery in selling the concept of dictatorship.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19The first question I want to explore is how did our earliest dictators
0:03:19 > 0:03:20define the brand...
0:03:21 > 0:03:25..and project their image before the days of mass media?
0:03:29 > 0:03:30In 2006,
0:03:30 > 0:03:35the BBC examined the rise and fall of a man long regarded as the model
0:03:35 > 0:03:37for all dictators who followed...
0:03:38 > 0:03:39..Julius Caesar.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
0:03:41 > 0:03:47Caesar's appeal was founded on his military genius and his popularity
0:03:47 > 0:03:49among the ordinary soldiers.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52- Comrades...- Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
0:03:52 > 0:03:57You have fought and you have bled and you have died for Rome.
0:03:57 > 0:03:58CHEERING
0:04:03 > 0:04:09But Rome's fortunes are held in the hands of corrupt aristocrats
0:04:09 > 0:04:12who profess to rule in your name.
0:04:12 > 0:04:18I will restore Rome to the very people that made Rome great.
0:04:18 > 0:04:19CHEERING
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Like dictators through the ages,
0:04:21 > 0:04:26Caesar was able to whip up support by making huge promises.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
0:04:28 > 0:04:33So there's Julius Caesar promising to make Rome great again,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35which has a familiar ring to it.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Caesar was notoriously vain about his appearance -
0:04:41 > 0:04:43in particular his hair.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45It's said he wore a laurel crown
0:04:45 > 0:04:48merely to hide his receding hairline...
0:04:49 > 0:04:51..ancient Rome's version of the comb-over.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55And even without TV,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Julius Caesar hit upon a way of spreading his image
0:04:58 > 0:05:01through the entire known world.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07The closest equivalent to a mass medium in ancient Rome
0:05:07 > 0:05:09were the coins.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14It signals to the population
0:05:14 > 0:05:17that there is a single person,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20a single face, who embodies power,
0:05:20 > 0:05:22who embodies the state.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Julius Caesar was the first living Roman to have his face pictured on
0:05:28 > 0:05:29the coinage...
0:05:31 > 0:05:35..a brilliantly simple way of becoming the most famous person
0:05:35 > 0:05:36in the ancient world...
0:05:37 > 0:05:41..establishing the link between fame and dictatorship
0:05:41 > 0:05:42that still exists today.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49But eventually, as this film shows, he went one step too far.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53- ARCHIVE:- The Roman Republic was born out of fear
0:05:53 > 0:05:55of ever being ruled by a tyrant.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Its founding principle was that no individual should hold
0:06:00 > 0:06:01too much power
0:06:01 > 0:06:04and every political office should be subject to regular re-election.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12But Caesar had demanded an extension of his powers without an election...
0:06:13 > 0:06:16..putting himself in conflict with those fundamental rules.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20He made himself dictator for life.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25But Caesar seems to have made a fundamental mistake.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28A really effective dictator would have wiped out his enemies
0:06:28 > 0:06:30before they had the chance to strike.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Julius Caesar, a very interesting case.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38He's not ruthless enough with his enemies,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42he doesn't take them out at any sign of disloyalty,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44if there's any whiff of suspicion.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49In March 44 BC, his enemies conspired against him.
0:06:52 > 0:06:59You have to be incredibly ruthless with everyone around you.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02He really takes his eye off the ball and perhaps that's something that
0:07:02 > 0:07:06subsequent dictators may have been aware of.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11So Julius Caesar, assassinated at the age of 55,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15helps us set out a few ground rules for dictators.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20They can be vain, so long as they remain popular with the masses.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23But to survive long-term
0:07:23 > 0:07:26they need to be utterly ruthless with potential enemies.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Despite being labelled a dictator,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Julius Caesar would almost certainly be included in any list
0:07:36 > 0:07:38of history's great men.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43He's a rare example of the modern-style
0:07:43 > 0:07:48crowd-pleasing dictator, before the era of mass communication.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54I would like to define dictators as a phenomenon of the modern age.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01What's typical of dictatorships is that the source of legitimacy is the
0:08:01 > 0:08:06people. You at least have to be able to claim to be from the people,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10loved by the people and so on, and not just from a single group
0:08:10 > 0:08:12in society, an elite,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14the aristocracy. No more divine right.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20So bearing that in mind, I need to fast forward to the 20th century...
0:08:23 > 0:08:25..and the most mesmerising dictators of all,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28judging by the sheer number of films in the archive.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34The man who taught Hitler the techniques of mass manipulation
0:08:34 > 0:08:37was Italy's dictator, Benito Mussolini.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42The first of the modern dictators, the leader,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44duce, if you like, of Italy
0:08:44 > 0:08:48introduced in a sense the modern conception of dictatorship,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51of dictatorship which claimed, at any rate, to spring from the people,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54not to be imposed from above by a monarch.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00Mussolini was the first to exploit brand-new mass media.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01Through radio and film,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05he could speak not just to a crowd but to an entire nation.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10His dictatorship was the dictatorship that, in many ways,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15created the stock images and the elements that were then imitated and
0:09:15 > 0:09:19changed and amalgamated by other dictators that came after.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23It was very much controlled, orchestrated.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28The way in which his chin was portrayed as protruding
0:09:28 > 0:09:30and seemingly particularly forceful and so on,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32that was all part of the plan,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36because it symbolised male will.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45To recapture the power and glory of ancient Rome had been the dream
0:09:45 > 0:09:50of Italian nationalists since the unification of Italy in 1870.
0:09:50 > 0:09:5350 years after the outbreak of World War II,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56film-makers examined how far Mussolini was to blame.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09Mussolini's elder son Vittorio, now aged 73, visits his father's tomb
0:10:09 > 0:10:11in Predappio in northern Italy.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Vittorio remembers the ambitions of his father.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18HE SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:10:18 > 0:10:21- TRANSLATION:- My father, Benito Mussolini,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25had a big dream. He wanted a strong and fierce Italy,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27respected for its law and order
0:10:27 > 0:10:30and highest form of social justice.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35He wanted a new Italian character worthy of its Roman heritage and the
0:10:35 > 0:10:37brilliance of the Renaissance.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Such a race could've been amongst the future leaders of the world.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51- TRANSLATION:- Mussolini was a powerful figure.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56A glance, a gesture, was enough to send the crowd into raptures.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00People used to become oblivious of everything but their idol and shout
0:11:00 > 0:11:02with tremendous enthusiasm.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09Mussolini's showmanship impressed one person in particular
0:11:09 > 0:11:10and with terrible consequences.
0:11:12 > 0:11:13This is a curious thing.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Mussolini was the one man whom Hitler
0:11:19 > 0:11:22genuinely accepted as an equal
0:11:22 > 0:11:27and, I think one can say, whom Hitler genuinely
0:11:27 > 0:11:29took seriously.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34The fact that Mussolini and Hitler rose together raises
0:11:34 > 0:11:37an uncomfortable question in our own unsettled times.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Did these two fascist dictators emerge around the same time
0:11:43 > 0:11:44by coincidence
0:11:44 > 0:11:48or was there something about their era that made fascism inevitable?
0:11:50 > 0:11:54Timewatch concluded that Europe, devastated by the First World War,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58provided just the environment in which Hitler could thrive.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06In 1919, he was given the greatest opportunity -
0:12:06 > 0:12:08that is to enter politics.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Politics came to Hitler, Hitler didn't find politics.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17Hitler, now a political instructor in the military,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19was sent to an army camp near Munich.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22It was here that he gave his first political speech
0:12:22 > 0:12:24blaming the Jews for the country's ills.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29This was the beginning of one of the most notorious political careers
0:12:29 > 0:12:30in history.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37- TRANSLATION:- He realised that he could speak -
0:12:37 > 0:12:39that was his great discovery.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45People came in droves because he hit the nerve at a time.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49People no longer wanted anything to do with the old politicians,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52they wanted someone from the grassroots, one of us,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55a simple man of the people as the saviour of the Germans.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Hitler's appeal went far beyond politics.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06Bizarrely in retrospect, he was also a sex symbol.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08In recent years a huge cache of love letters,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13many of which have sexual overtones, was found.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16German women writing to Hitler expressing their love.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Saying that they would like to have a baby with him and so on.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25But what gave Hitler that massive ego which all dictators share?
0:13:26 > 0:13:29On the 60th anniversary of the dictator's death,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Timewatch looked at the first in-depth analysis
0:13:32 > 0:13:34of Hitler's psychology.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41We know Adolf Hitler as the man responsible for the bloodiest crimes
0:13:41 > 0:13:42in history.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50He rose to power portraying himself as the saviour of the German people.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52But what lay behind this facade?
0:13:53 > 0:13:56In 1943, at the height of the war,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00the American Secret Service tried to get inside the mind of the Fuehrer.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05They ordered a team of Harvard psychologists to put together
0:14:05 > 0:14:07a top-secret psychological profile.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Hitler was a weak, frail little boy
0:14:15 > 0:14:19but there was one thing that marked him out as special in his family.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23He survived. His three brothers didn't.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24They all died young.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28And what does this mean for Hitler?
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Well, in his immature way,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34he probably wondered why the others had died while he continued to live.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40And it is natural for a child to draw the conclusion that he would be
0:14:40 > 0:14:44favoured in some way. Or that he was chosen to live
0:14:44 > 0:14:46for a particular purpose.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51That he was under divine protection.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Vor uns liegt Deutschland,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56in uns marshiert Deutschland,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00und hinter uns kommt Deutschland!
0:15:00 > 0:15:02CHEERING
0:15:02 > 0:15:06This is what Freud called the messiah complex.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08There's no question that Hitler believed
0:15:08 > 0:15:10he had Christ-like qualities.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20That Freudian approach was just the first of many attempts to understand
0:15:20 > 0:15:21Hitler's inner character...
0:15:23 > 0:15:27..and to understand how it was that someone so dangerous was able to win
0:15:27 > 0:15:29over millions of people.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Hitler has been ascribed something called dark charisma,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41which made his appearance both in person and on film
0:15:41 > 0:15:43strangely compelling.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50That mysterious quality is a tremendous boon for a dictator.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Your followers love the publicity
0:15:54 > 0:15:57and your opponents can't stop watching.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59And that's why in television documentary
0:15:59 > 0:16:01he's pretty much omnipresent.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05Und um dieses Volk,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09wollen wir Ringen and wollen wir kaempfen.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Und niemals erlahmen...
0:16:22 > 0:16:26Innovative recreations like that Timewatch film try to create
0:16:26 > 0:16:30a living history and bring figures like Hitler back to life.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38But I'm going to look now at some history as it unfolded,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41documentaries which present what's often called
0:16:41 > 0:16:43the first draft of history...
0:16:45 > 0:16:49..using television's unique ability to watch a dictator rise and fall.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56What's common to all these dictators is that they loved the camera...
0:16:57 > 0:16:58..and the camera loved them.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07And so I'm going to look at the man who set the pattern for dictators in
0:17:07 > 0:17:09the television age 60 years ago...
0:17:11 > 0:17:13..Fidel Castro of Cuba.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18In the 1950s, with his beard and his beret,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Castro established a powerful brand, the modern revolution.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Castro was a hero to many people in the developing world
0:17:26 > 0:17:30who were seeking to free themselves from the bonds of colonialism.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36It was his brother in arms, Che Guevara, whose face has become
0:17:36 > 0:17:39one of the best-known images in the entire world.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49From the very first, Castro fascinated outside observers.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55At the height of the Cold War in 1959, he seized control of Cuba,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57just 90 miles from the US mainland,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59and established a socialist state.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06So had this former playground for rich American tourists
0:18:06 > 0:18:08now become a nest of communists?
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Panorama's star reporter Robin Day
0:18:13 > 0:18:16travelled to the Cuban capital, Havana, to investigate.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21In every street of Havana the revolution is proudly advertised.
0:18:21 > 0:18:22Commerce and industry,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25so much of it American-owned, has been taken over.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27CUBAN MUSIC PLAYS
0:18:32 > 0:18:36The famous Tropicana still presents a lavish extravaganza under this
0:18:36 > 0:18:38uniquely Cuban revolution.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40But the prices are much cheaper,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42the clientele is much less exclusive
0:18:42 > 0:18:45and the dancing girls not quite so expert.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55The Cubans are a gay, pleasure-loving people.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59And the nationalisation of the previously exclusive bathing clubs,
0:18:59 > 0:19:03like the nightclubs, has been a popular feature of the revolution.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05The luxury hotels too are nationalised,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09guarded by Castro's militia, armed with communist-made weapons,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13a formidable force if its marksmanship matches its sex appeal.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Robin Day's report gives a sense of how this story ticked all the boxes
0:19:23 > 0:19:2756 years ago - revolution in an exotic setting.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Panorama soon returned to the matter in hand.
0:19:34 > 0:19:35Castro is a huge,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39powerfully built man who impresses by his physical size and strength.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41He's a man of stupendous energy who hardly ever sleeps.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46He should not be dismissed as a crackpot or a clown.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51He impressed even The New York Times reporter as witty,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53erudite and skilful.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57He's an object of fascination everywhere he goes.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Fidel Castro did become a kind of poster boy for revolutionaries
0:20:02 > 0:20:03around the world.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08He did have a tremendous charisma, he was a very big, tall man,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10he had a very impressive manner and, of course,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12he actually recruited a lot of people to his cause,
0:20:12 > 0:20:14including Americans,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17including quite a lot of people who certainly weren't communists.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Panorama's film appeared shortly after America's botched attempt
0:20:23 > 0:20:26to retake Cuba - the Bay of Pigs invasion.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27So in 1961,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Cuba was the hottest spot in the Cold War
0:20:30 > 0:20:35and Castro took full advantage of his status as a leading player.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Castro's conducted tour is not only to show us the support he has among
0:20:40 > 0:20:43the Cuban people and what he is doing for them,
0:20:43 > 0:20:44he has other sides to show.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49He takes us to the scenes of his triumph last April,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52when the invasion launched against him collapsed.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56He shows us the wreckage of an American B-26 plane supplied by the
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Americans to the invaders and shot down by Castro's forces.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05This is a moment as satisfying for Castro as it is humiliating for his
0:21:05 > 0:21:06American guests.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Nearby, he conducts us to a house destroyed by a bomb
0:21:10 > 0:21:13from the invading force.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Castro says that the ruined building will be preserved as a memorial.
0:21:19 > 0:21:25You are regarded in many quarters, Dr Castro, as a communist.
0:21:25 > 0:21:31- Is this true?- We are building a socialistic society.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33- Are you...? - That is before communism.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Do you regard yourself as a neutral in the Cold War?
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Why are you thinking war?
0:21:38 > 0:21:42I think that the best thing for peace is thinking in peace.
0:21:42 > 0:21:43I am with the peace.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47You obviously have a great deal of support among the people of Cuba.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49People in Miami, Americans,
0:21:49 > 0:21:54say that you started a revolution to bring in democracy and you have not
0:21:54 > 0:21:57- done so.- Do you believe that there is not democracy here?
0:21:57 > 0:21:58I am sure there is much more democracy...
0:21:58 > 0:22:02- I'm asking you a question. - ..than in the United States.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07The most free man you can find in all America is the Cuban man.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12But through the 1970s and '80s,
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Castro's people had to struggle with the reality of living next door to
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Cuba's bitter enemy, the USA.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25America tried to strangle the island's economy
0:22:25 > 0:22:26with economic sanctions.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34Many Cubans fled, saying Castro had created a regimented, dictatorial,
0:22:34 > 0:22:35one-party state.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50His regime was only saved by taking in supplies from Cuba's communist
0:22:50 > 0:22:54ally, the Soviet Union.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57But when communism collapsed in 1990,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59it seemed that Castro must fall.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05History has conspired to isolate Cuba.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08In Europe, Cuba is losing its main ideological allies.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Moscow, the island's chief supporter,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13is making major structural adjustments to communism,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16while Castro's comrades in the Eastern Bloc
0:23:16 > 0:23:17have jettisoned it completely.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20In Latin America,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24the 1980s have seen the rejection of totalitarianism of both left and
0:23:24 > 0:23:28right - one by one, the dictators have fallen to democracy.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34Now the last one-party state in the region, Cuba alone has survived.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41In 1991, film-makers arrived in Cuba expecting to witness
0:23:41 > 0:23:44the death throes of the Castro regime.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52But instead, they found Castro still on top form
0:23:52 > 0:23:54after 32 years in charge,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57his beard longer and bushier than ever.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02An adoring welcome from little Fidelistas.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07This is the Castro cult and it's reached truly epic proportions.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13The bearded one is larger than life and despite current problems,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16he's still a national hero to millions of his subjects,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19the closest thing to a communist monarch.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Despite food shortages and claims of political repression,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31these film-makers found a strong fanbase out in the streets.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53Fidel Castro relinquished power in favour of his brother, Raul,
0:24:53 > 0:24:54in 2007.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59And on the 50th anniversary of his revolutionary victory in 2009,
0:24:59 > 0:25:04film-makers found the Castro family business still firmly in control.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10The Castro brand was now so strong that his name alone was revered.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:25:15 > 0:25:19While Castro went on to survive numerous CIA assassination attempts,
0:25:19 > 0:25:24in the end, it was ill-health which forced him to step down.
0:25:24 > 0:25:25HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:25:25 > 0:25:29His younger brother, Raul Castro, has taken over the presidency.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33The communist system remains virtually unchanged.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Fidel Castro, who died in 2016,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45was a master at creating and then exploiting his image.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Yet, he didn't suffer that fatal flaw which affected many of the
0:25:51 > 0:25:53dictators who followed - megalomania.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Everything I've read about Fidel Castro does seem to tend to him
0:26:00 > 0:26:03having a considerable streak of narcissism,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06but it doesn't necessarily find focus in the same way
0:26:06 > 0:26:08as some other dictatorships.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14If you travelled around Cuba, you very rarely saw posters of his face.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Nor did you see landmarks named after him.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26He wasn't so obsessed with creating himself as a cult,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29but he was obsessed with the idea that he, Fidel,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31was, authentically, the voice of Cuba.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Castro lived to an old age, still firmly in charge.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Now, I want to look at the dictators who came after,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47and who most certainly did develop megalomania.
0:26:49 > 0:26:50SHOUTING
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Their fall, when it came, was violent and dramatic.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01First, how television watched this young man morph into a dictator
0:27:01 > 0:27:04who became known as the "Mad Dog of the Middle East".
0:27:07 > 0:27:11When army colonel Muammar Gaddafi led a successful coup in Libya
0:27:11 > 0:27:15in 1969, he was, remarkably, just 27 years old.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22For the first few years of his rule, he was wildly popular,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26promising to develop Libya's oil reserves and rebuild the nation
0:27:26 > 0:27:28for the poor.
0:27:28 > 0:27:29But, at the same time,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33there were rumours that he was also funding terrorism abroad.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37And so, a hero on the one hand,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40a potential villain lurking underneath -
0:27:40 > 0:27:43a compelling target for documentary-makers.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49A film from 1976 helped establish
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Gaddafi's favourite image of himself -
0:27:52 > 0:27:55the Bedouin leader, born of the desert.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Bedouin tribesmen in Libya ride to greet their head of state,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Muammar Gaddafi, a latter-day prophet out of the desert,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09who has thrust his obscure country into the world headlines
0:28:09 > 0:28:12as an apparent haven for hijackers and revolutionaries.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16So, who is this man who prays five times a day
0:28:16 > 0:28:18and bases his revolution on religion?
0:28:21 > 0:28:25The film was all the more exotic for Western audiences 40 years ago,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27before there was much knowledge of Islam.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Like all good Muslims, Gaddafi's day starts at dawn with prayer.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Here, he performs the ritual ablutions, which symbolise
0:28:43 > 0:28:47a spiritual cleansing, before he can talk with his God.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50He's a fervent believer in Islam and religiously follows
0:28:50 > 0:28:53the moral code of the Koran, Islam's holy book.
0:28:58 > 0:29:027am - breakfast is a simple meal, a glass of milk,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05coffee and a piece of bread.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08It's a soldier's house, furnished right out of the local store,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12and identical to the other officers' homes in the Tripoli barracks.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17He's a good-looking man, with a gaunt and anxious look.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24He's 35, twice married and has five children.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27He doesn't drink - as the Koran demands - nor smokes.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35By the time this film appeared,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Gaddafi was already being accused of funding international terrorism.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44It's impossible to know, 40 years on,
0:29:44 > 0:29:48why he granted film-makers this degree of access.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53But the film appears to take at face value Gaddafi's claim that
0:29:53 > 0:29:57he was a religious man, driven by the dictates of his faith.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10To understand the man, you have to trace his roots, and they grew here,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13600 miles from Tripoli, in the burning desert of Sirte.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17He grew up tending his father's camels and goats.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19His parents were illiterate Bedouin,
0:30:19 > 0:30:23and it was here that Gaddafi's concern was kindled for the poor
0:30:23 > 0:30:25of the oasis and the desert interior.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Today, his parents still live here, in a tent.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32It was here, at his mother's side, that the young Gaddafi's
0:30:32 > 0:30:35great devotion to Islam was founded and nurtured.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40I asked them what Gaddafi was like as a child.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44His father said that he was a pious little boy,
0:30:44 > 0:30:46who never forgot his prayers.
0:30:49 > 0:30:51It's impossible to watch this film
0:30:51 > 0:30:54and not see Gaddafi's early charisma.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02But, as well as burnishing his image, the film-makers were prepared
0:31:02 > 0:31:04to ask some difficult questions.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08You say you are a religious man.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13How do you square your conscience when you give arms and money to
0:31:13 > 0:31:17freedom movements who deliberately blow up innocent people,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20like the IRA bombing a supermarket in Belfast?
0:31:25 > 0:31:28- TRANSLATION:- There is a clear difference between supporting the
0:31:28 > 0:31:31just cause of nations struggling for their freedom and liberation,
0:31:31 > 0:31:32between that and terrorism.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36And it is one of our basic principles to support nations that
0:31:36 > 0:31:38are struggling for the sake of their freedom,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41to support those exploited and oppressed,
0:31:41 > 0:31:45be they in southern Philippines or in Northern Ireland.
0:31:45 > 0:31:46We support them morally, at least.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52Many people allege that there are, in fact, political prisoners
0:31:52 > 0:31:54in Libya and that they're tortured.
0:31:54 > 0:31:55Is this true, sir?
0:31:57 > 0:31:59- TRANSLATION:- This is not true.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02The question itself is incorrect.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05To say "many people" is not true.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09You could say "some people" say, but "many" is not true.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16Film-makers watched in fascination as, over the decades,
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Gaddafi seemed to delight in his own image as a dangerous outlaw.
0:32:26 > 0:32:32An interesting aspect about Gaddafi is vanity, narcissism.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36And I think a lot of dictators share that feature.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40A lethal combination of aspects to personality.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Gaddafi's enemies charged him with spending Libya's oil money
0:32:47 > 0:32:48to fund terror groups abroad.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53In 1986,
0:32:53 > 0:32:58US President Ronald Reagan described him as a "mad dog" and bombed the
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Libyan capital Tripoli as a reprisal for alleged attacks on US citizens.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06EXPLOSIONS
0:33:13 > 0:33:14Over the next two decades,
0:33:14 > 0:33:19Gaddafi's appearance and behaviour seemed to grow ever more eccentric.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26And his earlier denial of political repression rang hollow,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29as opposition within Libya was ruthlessly suppressed.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41But those opposing voices couldn't be silenced forever, and in 2011,
0:33:41 > 0:33:46as the Arab Spring uprisings toppled one dictator after another,
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Libyans finally turned on Gaddafi.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54Film-makers found this former soldier of Islam now at war
0:33:54 > 0:33:56with his own people.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05It's not by popular support he's become the world's
0:34:05 > 0:34:07longest-serving dictator -
0:34:07 > 0:34:08it's through terror.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Gaddafi's forces were shelling the city,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16despite claims of a ceasefire in Benghazi.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20It's Libya's second-largest city,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24where Gaddafi had put down protest before in a bloody fashion.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28It's very difficult for figures like Gaddafi to accept
0:34:28 > 0:34:30any kind of criticism...
0:34:32 > 0:34:37..when they have enjoyed such adoration, such absolute power.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45This is how he tried to persuade his own people to surrender.
0:34:57 > 0:34:58But they were empty threats.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00Gaddafi's power was gone.
0:35:02 > 0:35:03GUNFIRE
0:35:03 > 0:35:06There is jubilation in Libya.
0:35:06 > 0:35:07Colonel Gaddafi has been killed.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15After 42 years in power, it was an ignominious end.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19Gaddafi was dragged from his hiding place in this sewer pipe and shot.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Once a bright hope in the Arab world,
0:35:24 > 0:35:29he faced powerful enemies abroad and finally lost support within Libya.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37Gaddafi was unquestionably cruel but, nevertheless, compelling.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Television is able to capture that sense of advancing history like no
0:35:50 > 0:35:55other medium, and it chronicled the rise and fall of another dictator
0:35:55 > 0:35:56in equally compelling fashion.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05This dictator was accused of far more than supporting terror.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07His critics called him a warmonger.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12A study of two films, which bookended his life,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16show that Saddam Hussein was at war for much of that time.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24Until Panorama went to Baghdad, Iraq's President, Saddam Hussein,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27had never given a television interview to a team from the West.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35He'd ruled Iraq for two years, when, in 1981, Panorama gained exclusive
0:36:35 > 0:36:39access and introduced this new figure on the world stage.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Looming over Liberation Square, in every shop window,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51office and workshop, is a portrait of the President.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55Virtually unknown in the West, Saddam Hussein,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59with his crinkly smile, is an ever-present image to every Iraqi.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02Saddam Hussein is everywhere.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Saddam allowed the cameras in because, in 1981,
0:37:12 > 0:37:16his fighting spirit made him popular in parts of the West.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23He was at war with neighbouring Iran,
0:37:23 > 0:37:24an enemy of America.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35At certain times, dictators can be very attractive to external powers.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41They're perhaps repressing the enemies of other states.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43But, you know, be careful what you wish for.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47If he no longer wants to be your puppet,
0:37:47 > 0:37:49then you find yourself in a lot of trouble.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54Saddam was keen to show his softer side.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58The camera followed him to a poor farming village.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Saddam works tirelessly to make himself at one with the people.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10He promises this village a school and electricity,
0:38:10 > 0:38:13and because all this is broadcast on national television,
0:38:13 > 0:38:17the president's bounty can be seen and admired throughout the land.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28In Saddam Hussein's own words, if you win over the children,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30you win over your future.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Sitting at a school desk,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38he talks to the children about keeping their classroom clean.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45Even at this early stage in his career,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48Saddam was rumoured to have murdered many political rivals.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55When film-makers tackled Gaddafi on the same subject, he was guarded.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57But Saddam Hussein was brutally honest.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02Should political opponents be subject to torture and execution?
0:39:04 > 0:39:07- TRANSLATION:- Yes.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11It calls for it to be subject to execution and to torture.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16In accordance with the law,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20we say he who collaborates
0:39:20 > 0:39:23with a foreign party is sentenced to death.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31British film-makers would never again find Saddam quite so amicable
0:39:31 > 0:39:32as they did here, in 1981.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37But for the next 25 years,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40he fulfilled for the West the role of evil dictator.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Secretive, cruel and ruthless.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54In 1990, he invaded Kuwait, prompting the first Gulf War.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01Also, the first war in history to be played out live on TV.
0:40:03 > 0:40:04GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:40:07 > 0:40:11He survived that encounter, but by 2002,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14America and her allies were shaping up for a final showdown.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Film-makers returned to Iraq.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24Though they found the posters had been updated from 20 years ago,
0:40:24 > 0:40:26Saddam remained an enigmatic figure.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34In Baghdad, Saddam is everywhere,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37but he's only seen through images that he's approved.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40He's the widely recognised, yet least-known
0:40:40 > 0:40:42dictator in modern history.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48The producers tracked down someone who did claim to know
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Saddam's innermost secrets.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55For years, Washington has tried to analyse
0:40:55 > 0:40:58his unique psychological make-up.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03When I went there, I found out how Saddam followed his hero Stalin,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07using violence not only to gain power, but to keep it.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10This is not a madman,
0:41:10 > 0:41:16but he does have the most dangerous personality that we know of.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19What I call malignant narcissism.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23So, on the one hand, he's so caught up with his own vanity,
0:41:23 > 0:41:25his own messianic dreams,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29that there's no room for the pain or suffering of others,
0:41:29 > 0:41:31that doesn't count at all.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34He's got no conscience whatsoever and -
0:41:34 > 0:41:39making it all the worse - will use whatever violence is necessary
0:41:39 > 0:41:41to carry out his ambitions,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44and violence has been the hallmark of his very success.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49The trigger that Saddam was about to commit something terrible was
0:41:49 > 0:41:52he would start blinking rapidly.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Everybody knew that when he started blinking rapidly,
0:41:55 > 0:41:57he was going to have somebody killed,
0:41:57 > 0:41:59or wreak some terrible thing.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05It was usually terminal, as one of his arrested ministers was to find.
0:42:05 > 0:42:10His wife came to plea with Saddam and said,
0:42:10 > 0:42:14"Your Excellency, my husband has always been loyal to you.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16"Please return him to me."
0:42:16 > 0:42:19He promised her he would return her husband to her the next day,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23which he did - chopped into pieces in a black canvas body bag.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29As dictators become thinner and thinner on the ground,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Saddam seems like a throwback to an earlier era -
0:42:33 > 0:42:37a man with the power of life and sudden death
0:42:37 > 0:42:39over everybody he controls.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44An observation which goes right to
0:42:44 > 0:42:47the heart of our fascination with dictators.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51The will or the whim of a single individual that can alter
0:42:51 > 0:42:53the course of history.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00The character analysis may well have been accurate,
0:43:00 > 0:43:06but looking back now at this 2002 film, there is one understandable,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08yet monumental error.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Film-makers had bought the official line on Saddam's secret weapons.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17Saddam's darkest secret...
0:43:18 > 0:43:21..his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23bigger than anyone imagined.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34Saddam's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programme
0:43:34 > 0:43:37absorbed Iraq's resources for 30 years.
0:43:40 > 0:43:45Would he use weapons of mass destruction if he was threatened?
0:43:45 > 0:43:48- TRANSALTION:- I believe that if Saddam Hussein felt that his end
0:43:48 > 0:43:50was near, he would use these weapons.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00And it's that fear that is behind the mounting pressure to deal
0:44:00 > 0:44:02with Saddam once and for all.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05As each day passes, so the argument goes,
0:44:05 > 0:44:07he's getting stronger and more dangerous.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14Now, the Americans seem to be gearing up for another Gulf War
0:44:14 > 0:44:15to wipe him out.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17It certainly won't be easy.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23People who adore him and the people who think he's the most dangerous,
0:44:23 > 0:44:29nastiest dictator on Earth agree that he operates on the grand scale.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32It seems fair to assume that, when the time comes,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34he won't go quietly.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Iconic images record Saddam's overthrow.
0:44:47 > 0:44:48CHEERING
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Yet we now know that the end of the war was the start
0:44:59 > 0:45:01of Iraq's real agony.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09This, the first draft of history, has had to be entirely rewritten.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24Saddam Hussein was discovered hiding in a cellar.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29He was tried, then hanged, in 2006,
0:45:29 > 0:45:34still insisting he be addressed as His Excellency, the President.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48This last dictator proves as much as any that power corrupts.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55He assured the world that he would bring peace and harmony
0:45:55 > 0:45:56to his war-torn country.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59SINGING AND CHANTING
0:46:01 > 0:46:03But instead, as the archive reveals,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06he slaughtered his own people by the thousands.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Again, he's proved irresistible to film-makers.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Africa's most tenacious dictator, Robert Mugabe.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30In 1979, the former British colony of Rhodesia was still ruled
0:46:30 > 0:46:34by a tiny, white minority and they were engaged in a brutal
0:46:34 > 0:46:37guerrilla war against African freedom fighters.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44- SINGING:- Long live comrade Mugabe.
0:46:44 > 0:46:45- IN CHORUS:- Mugabe.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49Robert Mugabe was just one of several leaders who were condemned
0:46:49 > 0:46:50by much of the British media.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Film-makers set out to discover
0:46:56 > 0:46:58whether the horror stories were true.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07People of Zimbabwe, victory is certain.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Maputo, the capital of Mozambique,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16which now plays host to the largest, most secretive guerrilla army
0:47:16 > 0:47:19operating against Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Its leader is said to be a terrorist.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25He's so hated and feared that his fellow countrymen are forbidden to
0:47:25 > 0:47:27publish his name - Robert Mugabe.
0:47:29 > 0:47:34For so long, spurned by the West and branded as the man who massacres the
0:47:34 > 0:47:36innocent, Mugabe is now a key figure.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43The image presented by the British press has been consistently hostile.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50I just don't care what they say as long as I know I'm right.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53So they can say anything in their papers,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55damage me in every way possible,
0:47:55 > 0:48:00as long as the people I lead are behind me and approve
0:48:00 > 0:48:02of what we are doing - that's what matters.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08By the time the same film-makers returned just 12 months later,
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Robert Mugabe had emerged victorious from a peace settlement,
0:48:11 > 0:48:15the first Prime Minister of a new country - Zimbabwe.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19It looked as though peace and justice
0:48:19 > 0:48:21had come to the former colony.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24At least, that's how it seemed at the time.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30How long will these gentilities last?
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Is a one-party state just around the corner?
0:48:33 > 0:48:34No, it isn't.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37My party's virtually in control.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42There is no need for us really to think of a one-party state.
0:48:43 > 0:48:44This was going to be a new start.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Robert Mugabe spoke the language of reconciliation.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52He actually thanked the Rhodesian regime.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56He said to them, "You have given me the jewel of Africa."
0:48:56 > 0:48:57So, yes, there was huge optimism.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02But over nearly 40 years,
0:49:02 > 0:49:04film-makers have chronicled his fall from grace.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11In 1985, film-makers returned to meet Mr Mugabe...
0:49:12 > 0:49:15..and this time, they were scathing about what they found.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21Mr Robert Mugabe, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24Once he was a Marxist guerrilla leader in the war
0:49:24 > 0:49:26against Rhodesia's whites.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30Now, Comrade Bob, as he's called, is due to hold elections.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32They're unlikely to be free and fair.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34He calls his opponents dissidents
0:49:34 > 0:49:36and wants to set up a one-party state.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45Robert Mugabe was taking a critical step towards dictatorship.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48The political opposition would be outlawed.
0:49:48 > 0:49:49CHEERING
0:49:49 > 0:49:51..far better a one-party state.
0:49:51 > 0:49:52CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
0:49:53 > 0:49:59It's really in keeping with our own traditions and our own, erm,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02philosophy of an African society.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06The dissident party are destined not only for rejection,
0:50:06 > 0:50:09but for utter destruction, as well.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13I don't see the sense, really, in the multi-party state,
0:50:13 > 0:50:17as you have it in Britain or in the United States or in western Europe.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22Mugabe had already developed a dictator's fondness
0:50:22 > 0:50:23for statues of himself.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Mr Mugabe and his party have commissioned a memorial
0:50:28 > 0:50:30to the liberation struggle.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34Designed by North Koreans, panels depict the history of the war and
0:50:34 > 0:50:38describe the credit for victory to Mr Mugabe himself.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Although the evidence wouldn't emerge till later,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46Mugabe was already sealing his grip on power
0:50:46 > 0:50:49by liquidating potential rivals.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55He was very impressed with North Korea's attitude to power,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57and after a visit there...
0:50:58 > 0:50:59CHANTING AND CLAPPING
0:51:01 > 0:51:06..his army was tooled up and he sent a force into Matabeleland
0:51:06 > 0:51:08and they committed terrible atrocities.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13BBC film-makers returned in 1992
0:51:13 > 0:51:17and found no sign of the earlier optimism.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21Partly the result of a catastrophic drought,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24Zimbabwe's farming sector was on the point of collapse.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30The economy was rapidly fading amid
0:51:30 > 0:51:33growing evidence of political assassinations.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39In the desperate search for water,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42disused gold mines are being excavated.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50At mines in Matabeleland, they have found water.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55They've also found human bones.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02So this is where the dead went during the reign of terror of the
0:52:02 > 0:52:071980s, when Mugabe's men marched into Matabeleland
0:52:07 > 0:52:10killing, raping, torturing.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14Up to 10,000 so-called dissidents are said to have disappeared.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20With each bucket-load, there was a macabre collection of human debris.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24Femurs, ribs, pieces of clothing.
0:52:31 > 0:52:32Angered by films like that,
0:52:32 > 0:52:35Robert Mugabe banned the BBC from entering Zimbabwe.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43But in 2002, one team decided that conditions there had to be exposed.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50In the '80s, Mugabe's regime killed thousands and got away with it.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52Today, his rule is threatened once more.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00So we didn't get arrested, we're forced to film everything secretly.
0:53:03 > 0:53:08We're heading south to a place the state won't even acknowledge exists,
0:53:08 > 0:53:10but the locals know only too well.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18The Central Intelligence Organisation tortured and murdered
0:53:18 > 0:53:20here for months on end.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22- TRANSLATION:- There were a lot of people buried in the pits
0:53:22 > 0:53:25that were used as toilets.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28We used to fill them in when they were full and then dig some more.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31I personally saw at least 300 bodies.
0:53:36 > 0:53:41Bones never lie, so they were dug up and dumped elsewhere.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44The grave tamperers didn't even bother to fill in the holes
0:53:44 > 0:53:47in the ground - plain evidence of mass murder.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54Everyone who spoke to us could face torture or even death for doing so.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00With the opposition suppressed,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02Mugabe entered his fourth decade as dictator.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13Robert Mugabe eventually lifted his ban on the BBC,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16granting a film crew access on his 90th birthday.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21Why he relented, it's hard to say.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Perhaps to demonstrate that he is one of history's survivors.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29In Zimbabwe,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31birthday celebrations are underway for Africa's oldest
0:54:31 > 0:54:35and longest-serving leader.
0:54:35 > 0:54:36- SINGING:- Welcome, Your Excellence.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Once the darling of the West, today,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41Robert Mugabe's considered a pariah.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46As he celebrates his 90th birthday, I've been given rare access
0:54:46 > 0:54:50to the president whom the West love to hate.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52- We meet again. - We meet again, finally.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56In an interview, the president dismissed Zimbabwe's problems
0:54:56 > 0:54:57and focused instead on Britain.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23It's a good question. What happened to Robert Mugabe?
0:55:25 > 0:55:29Some believe that, once in power, he had gone mad,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31but is that a satisfactory explanation?
0:55:33 > 0:55:37I think with Robert Mugabe, he's always been in a situation of war.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44It just doesn't work if you've always been at war and your life is
0:55:44 > 0:55:47about fear, covering your back and taking out your enemy.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56Mugabe has followed the brutal rule that Julius Caesar ignored.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03Eliminate your enemies before they can strike at you.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Who will fight with me today?
0:56:18 > 0:56:23I set out to ask why dictators have proved so compelling to film-makers.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25One answer is, how could they not be?
0:56:30 > 0:56:32Larger-than-life figures, often charismatic.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36Brilliant at manipulating the crowd,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38savvy at publicity.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42And in an age in which leaders rely so heavily
0:56:42 > 0:56:44on their television skills,
0:56:44 > 0:56:45it pays to remember that.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52It is fascinating how many terms have been invented over time
0:56:52 > 0:56:54to avoid using the label dictator.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58Terms like Fuhrer, Duce, Generalissimo.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02Fidel Castro liked to call himself the Maximum Leader.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08Yet whatever they're called, dictators continually reappear.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12If we walk outside of the studio, we'll find a couple of Mussolinis,
0:57:12 > 0:57:13potential Mussolinis.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16I think it's never a problem to find potential dictators.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21It is possible,
0:57:21 > 0:57:27in these times of fear and insecurity, we can potentially see,
0:57:27 > 0:57:31I think, the appeal of a sort of post-modern dictatorship.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34It'll be interesting from a historical perspective,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38if somewhat worrying from a living-through-it perspective to see
0:57:38 > 0:57:42whether, in fact, this new populism is compatible with democracy.
0:57:42 > 0:57:43Power corrupts.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47We'll always probably have dictators, but we'll also have ways,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49I think, of dealing with them.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52And I think we've got to safeguard all those things that we know will
0:57:52 > 0:57:56protect us against the worst side of human nature,
0:57:56 > 0:58:01and that is to cleave towards the powerful, charismatic father figure.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11I'm certain that the film archive contains valuable lessons,
0:58:11 > 0:58:14but in this case, very little of comfort
0:58:14 > 0:58:19because despite having been told so clearly that power corrupts,
0:58:19 > 0:58:23and having seen that it does, there are still many people willing
0:58:23 > 0:58:26to say, "Maybe, this time, it'll be different."
0:58:27 > 0:58:29And, unfortunately, it almost never is.