One of the Year's Best

Rating: 9/10 (14 January 2007)

Many of the younger readers here may not remember the murderous regime of Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda. I was in college when he was deposed, in 1979. Shortly before that, I saw a good documentary about this tyrant, titled Idi Amin Dada. If you mixed scenes from this new movie with the scenes from that documentary, it would be hard to tell which is which. Forrest Whittaker is so convincing that you soon forget that he's an actor.
The story is told from the perspective of a young Scottish doctor who goes to Uganda for his first job. Fresh out of medical school, he's very bright and motivated, but naive. He meets Idi Amin through an accident of fate, and becomes his personal physician. At first, the dictator seems to be a good man--a man of the people. I won't give away any more.
If this movie gets no Oscars, then something is seriously wrong. Just beware, it contains some disturbing scenes of violence and gore. Not for the timid, but a real gem.