The Last King of Scotland will stay with you

Rating: 9/10 (17 February 2007)

Forest Whitaker has been turning in one magnificent performance after the other for over 20 years now, which makes it incredibly satisfying for me, as someone who's been deeply appreciating his work (both as an actor and director!), to see him finally get some props. His towering inferno of a performance in The Last King Of Scotland deserves all the kudos he's been receiving this year, and hopefully he will take the Oscar at next Sunday's ceremony, to top it off.
Another great thing about Whitaker's receiving such high profile acknowledgment for his portrayal of Amin is that the film is finally getting wider distribution. I saw it this afternoon, and it was riveting from start to finish - brilliantly crafted, thanks to a supremely well-written script (with slow, subtle and ultimately overwhelming build), perfectly directed, and impeccably cast, particularly in the two main roles.
Whitaker's been getting all the accolades - his depiction of Amin as a lethally charming but horrifically psychotic two-faced "president" works because he never loses sight of the fact that he's playing a human being. This is something that informs every one of Whitaker's performances, and it is the major quality that also makes his work always stand out. There is another flawless performance in this film, however: it's James McAvoy, who plays the fictional doctor character through whose eyes we experience the movie.
The scenes between McAvoy and Whitaker are, in my opinion, some of the most powerful scenes between 2 characters ever filmed. The predicament which Nicholas finds himself is far more than he bargained for when he set out, at the film's start, to find adventure. The beginning, in fact, lets us know straight away that we're in good hands as far as the writing of the film goes: in just a couple of short scenes, we are shown everything we need to know about his character - the way he downs his wine so quickly at the table and wants more, the way he yells out with frustration in his bed, and the way he chooses to go to Africa by spinning the globe around and pointing to a location - twice; the first time he lands on Canada, which doesn't have the adventure factor he's clearly seeking.
By the end of the film, he has most definitely gotten what he was searching for, a thousand times over, and he knows it. McAvoy conveys this brilliantly through his facial expressions and body language alone. We feel what he feels. Although we might not have made the same choices he makes in the course of the movie, we still have tremendous compassion for him, or at least I did, without feeling sorry for him, because he did indeed make those choices. His character knows that, as well. McAvoy as an actor makes us feel all this without ever stating any of it. It is a masterful performance, right up there with Whitaker's, and even though he hasn't gotten the kudos that Whitaker's received for The Last King of Scotland, it is a performance that will not be easily forgotten.