Fictionalized history, with a Scottish protagonist who doesn't elicit much sympathy

Rating: 6/10 (9 June 2007)

"Inspired by real events", Giles Fodin's novel becomes Oscar-winning triumph for Forest Whitaker, ideally and convincingly cast as Idi Amin who, in 1970 Uganda, staged a political coup, ousting the former African dictator with promises to the struggling country that he was just like one of them. James McAvoy's performance as a medical school graduate from Scotland who comes to Uganda hoping to "make a difference in the world" is a problem however. We get just a smidgen of information about McAvoy's young doctor: he seemingly picks Uganda at random on the globe, but a two-person medical staff is already awaiting his arrival; and we never learn what happens to the British doctor and his wife, the latter of whom fends off McAvoy's advances (he's apparently attracted to married women). The Scottish medic and the new President cross paths and enter into a close friendship and working relationship, but we're as confused as this kid when Amin lashes out at his circle in paranoid confusion and insecurity. Whitaker's performance is spot-on, but Idi Amin as written comes off like a buffoonish, mercurial hothead, cheeky one moment and enraged the next. The film's final third, with the physician requesting to leave Uganda but then having a heated affair with one of Amin's wives, is a mess, and director Kevin MacDonald's assured processing of this story simply unravels. McAvoy is an ingratiating lad at the outset, but he becomes less interesting (and less sympathetic as a focal point in the plot) after turning from a wide-eyed idealist into a political detective. After bodies begin stacking up, and a French airliner is hijacked by the Palestinians, one's faith in the filmmakers weakens, and all the vitality MacDonald showed early on is betrayed by the melodrama. **1/2 from ****