Bravo to the makers of "The Last King of Scotland"!

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2006)

I have been aware of the rise and fall of Idi Amin since 1971 when I was fortunate to be in Uganda for the first time, and his photograph was plastered in every business, social and government facility, and no doubt home throughout the country. At that time he was viewed as a "darling" by the western nations that helped bring him to power.
As a novelist, I commend Giles Foden, Kevin MacDonald, Forest Whitaker, and the entire cast and crew of "The Last King of Scotland" for presenting such a vivid, albeit sketchy account of the horror of the Amin regime. I also applaud them for the restraint with which they handled the crimes committed by Amin and his henchmen. Those of us who are aware of the true events know that whatever violence shown or mentioned in the film was minimal compared to what actually occurred -- and would be difficult to witness on the part of the average viewer.
I appreciate the need at this time to present Amin's story from predominately a white POV, and to fictionalize it in order to make it more palatable to readers/viewers. I basically did the same in my novel "The Lure of the Lion", although I included among my characters a black Ugandan family and Asians who are affected by the Amin regime. In addition, I present the fact that Amin was in league with the Russians and Arab factions, and was complicit in the hijacking of the Air France airbus. There are other facts regarding Amin's history, and medical condition, which are understandably not mentioned in the film, with its time and context restraints.
What I especially admire about "TLKofS" is of course Forest's performance -- yes, definitely Oscar worthy! and the fact that it was actually filmed in Uganda -- a beautiful, fantastic country with courageous, kind-hearted people who deserve a peaceful existence free from the Amins and Obotes (the president prior to and following Amin, whose regime massacred almost twice as many Ugandans as did Amin's, only not as flamboyantly).