Less powerful than it could have been

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2006)

"The Last King of Scotland" has a wonderful performance by Forrest Whitaker. Absolutely Academy Award worthy. the subject matter is inherently interesting, also.
It would, nonetheless, have been a more powerful film with a more moral Scottish doctor-hero. In his own way, he, also, is an immoral man. His transgressions are minor indeed compared with Idi Amin's.
Since emotional engagement is a proper aim of filmmakers, would one not have been more affected by Dr. Garrigan's plight if he had not immediately, and without any discernible compunction, tried to betray his doctor colleague by attempting to make love to his wife, and later, while he still admired him, betrayed Idi Amin with Amin's wife? It's not to compare with Amin's moral turpitude, but it lessens my sympathy for Dr. Garrigan, the film's hero. Have I so outlived my era that younger people do not feel a bit this way, too?