The Last King Of Scotland (2006)

Average rating

(77%)

Starring:	Forest Whitaker \| Simon McBurney \| Gillian Anderson \| James McAvoy \| David Oyelowo \| Kerry Washington
Director:	Kevin Macdonald
Studio:	20TH CENTURY FOX
Run time:	121 mins
Collections:	100 Hot Hits \| 100 Most Wanted
Genres:	Audio Descriptive \| Drama
Languages:	English, English Audio Description
Released:	May 14, 2007
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It was supposed to be a wild adventure in a far-off country, but when a naive young doctor arrives in 1970's Uganda - hoping for fun, sun and to lend a helping hand - he finds himself instead on a shocking ride into the darkest realm on earth. Befriended by the charismatic new leader, Idi Amin, and appointed as his personal physician, Nicholas Garrigan is originally blinded by his larger than life and charming persona. But when the terrible truth of his despotic rule is revealed, he must fight for both his life and soul against one of the cruellest leaders in history.

Deftly mixing fact and fiction and startlingly resonant with today's world, the film features a tour de force performance from Forest Whitaker as Amin and carves two unforgettable portraits: one of a charismatic but psychopathic ruler who ravaged his country and the other, of a witness to history who finally finds the courage to make a stand.

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69 out of 75 people found the following review helpful:

*** May contain spoilers ***

Last King of Scotland

SAI81 from from Tonbridge, 18th March, 2007

The basic setup is true. The Last King of Scotland presents an honest portrayal of the brutal regime of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and the story runs into many real events, finishing up at the Entebbe hostage crisis. However the basis for the thrust of the storyline is pure fiction, based on the novel of the same name by Giles Foden.
It follows Dr Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy) a newly qualified young Glaswegian who goes to Uganda having randomly selected it on a globe. He arrives just as Amin is seizing power and, by coincidence, ends up treating a minor injury for the dictator. This leads to Amin taking Garrigan on as his personal physician. As the situation in Uganda worsens and people start vanishing Garrigan only climbs higher in the government even as his romantic entanglements with Amin’s young wife (Washington) become deeply dangerous.

A film like this lives or dies by one thing: the lead; get the portrayal of Amin right and half the battle is won. Amazingly Forest Whittaker was not Kevin MacDonald’s initial choice for the role but he channels Amin brilliantly. The single-minded dedication Whittaker showed to the role (he learnt Swahili and stayed in character throughout the shoot, on set and off) really comes through on screen. He invests a role that could merely have been monstrous with great charm and a sense of fun. This is vital because it allows us to be taken in with Garrigan, we understand him wanting to be around Amin because we do too. However when the monster is loose Whittaker controls him, managing to be scary without being pantomimic. Whittaker will be nominated for an Oscar and he’ll probably win, quite deservingly.
James McAvoy has been quietly building a strong career for himself. The TV series Shameless and a small role in Wimbledon showed him to be a versatile talent but with the recent Starter For 10 and now Last King of Scotland he’s a movie star; signed, sealed, delivered. Garrigan is not by any means sympathetic, he’s wilfully ignorant of the atrocities Amin perpetrates and shows himself as an immoral opportunist at almost every turn, and yet McAvoy makes you care about him. It’s only because of McAvoy’s performance that the film’s late and rather abrupt turn into thriller territory works.
It’s also worth mentioning a small role for Gillian Anderson, whose post X-Files career continues to show that she’s an impressive talent, capable of more than The X Files ever really let her show. Here she is affecting as the wife of the Doctor that Garrigan works for on his arrival in Uganda and she generates a connection with McAvoy that makes you pine for her later in the film.
MacDonald’s direction has the urgency and immediacy you might expect of a documentarian (witness the attempt on Amin’s life in the middle of the film) but his storytelling isn’t as well honed yet. He’s unable to generate much connection between McAvoy and Kerry Washington’s character and this undermines an already slightly shaky setup for the last act. However once we get to Entebbe and are back in the thick of things the film gets right back on track.
Without the 15-minute wobble that is the rather contrived relationship between Garrigan and Kay Amin (Washington, trying hard, but given little to work with) this would be truly top class stuff. Some audiences may be put off by the subject matter and though the massacres that Amin sanctioned are only hinted at there is some quite nasty violence and a deeply uncomfortable torture sequence that really earns the 15 certificate. However The Last King of Scotland remains an excellent film, one that demands to be seen if only for the two towering performances at its centre.

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39 out of 45 people found the following review helpful:

Unmissable

A Customer from London, England, 26th December, 2006

Forest Whitaker is simply superb as the unpredictable and murderous Idi Amin, and James McAvoy is equally as compelling as the young, naive Scottish doctor who seeks adventure in Uganda believing he can make a difference. The two meet by chance and Amin persuades the doctor to move into palatial surroundings as his personal physician and adviser. Forest Whitaker plays every scene with just the right amount of tension - is he going to react with anger or good humour? The doctor enjoys his new life of luxury but he is completely out of his depth when it comes to political machinations, and when he stupidly begins an affair with one of Amin's wives he risks the full force of a vengeful dictator. It's a great film throughout - don't miss it!

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39 out of 46 people found the following review helpful:

Road to Hell

PeterSays from from Romsey, 9th February, 2007

This is a very good film showing how a series of wrong turns can lead a man into something very bad. A young Scottish doctor travels to Uganda to help at a medical mission but the lusty Scot is morally weak and soon abandons the mission for a life of power and pleasure as Idi Amin’s personal doctor in Kampala. By turns, the doctor becomes more and more deeply embroiled into Amin’s murderous regime. Forest Whitaker’s performance as Amin has been widely praised (winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor) and rightly so: he was brilliant. However, perhaps he was too much the likeable clown. I don’t think the atmosphere of the mad dictator’s frightening and oppressive regime is portrayed particularly strongly (apart from the horrific murder of Amin’s adulterous wife). Well-known events, such as the Asian expulsions and the Entebbe highjack, seemed to be conspicuously placed to give the film an air of historic authenticity for western audiences. At the end of the film, the stoic way that the previously weak and hedonistic doctor faced torture and death was very courageous and admirable, but was not entirely convincing. Neither was his salvation to warn the world of Amin’s excesses: just a good way of ‘wrapping up’ the film. Nevertheless, this is a well-told salutary story.

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