"A man who shows fear... he is weak, and he is a slave. " - Idi Amin

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2007)

"I may wear the uniform of a general, but in my heart, I am a simple man" - Idi Amin
The above statement is delivered by Amin during the first ten minutes of the film. There the tall, chunky Whitaker personifying Amin walks onto a stage in front of a large group of poor Ugandans and delivers an almost heart-wrenching speech. He talks about how he loves his people and that he won't rest until all the poor are taken care of. This is utterly convincing and even knowing what a twisted person the real Amin was, I almost believed him. I believed him all the way up until he showed his real colors by threatening a poor cattle farmer after being in an accident. This is when Amin's true colors shine and we are aware of what lies behind his false appearance as a caring humanitarian -- a ruthless, psychotic and literally cannibalistic monster.
'The Last King of Scotland' doesn't center around Idi Amin, but young Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (played by James McAvoy, who you may remember as Mr. Tumnus is last year's smash hit 'The Chronicles of Narnia'.) Garrigan is fresh out of medical school and instead of putting up with his father's (who is also a doctor) subtle mental abuse, he decides to go do missionary Medical work at the first place his finger lands while spinning a model globe. After landing on Canada and shrugging, he goes again and lands on Uganda. An intelligent humanitarian but still a childish boy, Garrigan seduces a moderately attractive local he met on the bus, before he reaches his destination of the village where he will do his charity work. There he meets and falls for the caring wife of the resident doctor (played by X-Files' Gillian Andersen), before coming face to face with President Idi Amin, after a small car accident. Idi Amin is ready to kill Garrigan, before finding out he is Scottish, and then decides to make him his own personal doctor. Garrigan goes along with the whole idea hesitantly at first, but really starts to bond with Amin. After witnessing Amin commission the murders of a bunch of men who tried to kill him, Garrigan begins to have to rationalize Amin's brutality, but eventually realizes that Amin is just pure evil, and tries to escape from his clutches. The film shifts from being a drama to a thriller after the first hour and fifteen minutes or so, and even though it lags a bit in between, most of the time spent watching the film will have audience members enthralled and practically on the edge-of-their-seats.
'The Last King of Scotland' is a lot like 2004's 'Ray' (the Jamie Foxx biopic of Ray Charles), in that it's a great film built around what is perhaps one of the most riveting leading male performances in film history. The performance I'm talking about of course, is that of Forest Whitaker, who not only gives a performance, but an embodiment of one of the most notoriously cruel dictators to ever live -- Idi Amin. From the moment Whitaker walks onto screen, his stature and presence alone is enough to give you goosebumps. At this moment, the beauty and brilliance of his performance is only beginning. After that he becomes more and more intense, making every second he's on screen so frightening, it seems Amin is right there next to you breathing down your neck. This is Whitaker's most ambitious performance, delivered flawlessly, that I have not a doubt in my mind it will earn him his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Lead Actor. If he doesn't win, I'd be utterly surprised.
The rest of the cast is very good, but pale in comparison. British newcomer James McAvoy gives a great performance here as the young, naive Scottish doctor. My father compared him to Keanu Reeves, but I shutter at the comparison seeing as unlike Reeves, McAvoy actually showed range and was believable in the part. Kerry Washington (who you may remember from 'Ray') is also quite compelling in a small supporting role as Amin's third wife. The rest of the cast have too small of parts to really critique, including Gillian Andersen who is on-screen for about a total of seven or eight minutes.
The screenplay is solid most of the time, but lags a little in the beginning and in the middle. When Whitaker isn't on-screen, the film seems less engaging. One of the biggest complaints I have about the screenplay, is like my complaint of 2004's 'Hotel Rwanda' which garnered similar themes, -- it's too conventional. The story, although never sappy, is too predictable and follows a lot of the ingredients of most Hollywood thrillers. Kevin MacDonald's directing is solid, but not magnificent. Perhaps this is because 'The Last King of Scotland' is the first feature film MacDonald has directed that isn't a documentary feature. I'm not saying that MacDonald, the Academy Award winning filmmaker of the 1999 documentary 'One Day in September', provides bad directing or even mediocre directing, I'm just saying there were some parts in the film where the directing could have been flowed more smoothly.
When it's all said and done, 'The Last King of Scotland' proves to be an intense, gritty and well-made drama/thriller built around an astonishingly powerful performance that is ten times more memorable than the film itself. I highly recommend catching this film while it's still playing at the Harkins Camelview where it opened today. It's worth seeing for Forest Whitaker's ferocious portrayal of Idi Amin alone. Grade: B+ (screened at Harkins Camelview 5, Scottsdale, AZ, 10/13/06)