A much scarier horror film than most horror films

Rating: 9/10 (19 September 2006)

Kevin Macdonald, whose background is in documentary, has made a stunning piece of work with "The Last King of Scotland". A junior doctor (James McAvoy) from Scotland goes to Uganda just after Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker) coup and becomes personally embroiled in the dictator's insanity. The title refers to Amin's documented love of Scotland and personal joke that he did such a good job getting rid of the British in Uganda that Scotland considered him for the same job.
Stylistically similar to Oliver Stone's "Salvador", this is a lightning-paced political thriller buoyed by Oscar-worthy performances from McAvoy and Whitaker. Script, by Jeremy Brock, Peter Morgan and Joe Penhall, from a novel by Giles Foden, is a model of economy and manages to juggle a huge number of inflammatory elements without ever dropping the ball. Quite explicit in parts and shot with extraordinary clarity and invention by Anthony Dod Mantle, there have been so few great films like this recently that this stands out as a beacon of hope.
As a film that deals with genocide, torture, murky politics and insanity, it pulls no punches and rockets towards an explosive climax featuring the Entebbe hostage drama. It ends exactly where it should and leaves us breathless (having ripped us from a nightmare more real than fiction).
It's a much scarier horror film than most horror films.