Forest Whitaker is outstanding as Idi Amin in this otherwise mediocre docudrama

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2007)

Forest Whitaker is one of the finest yet most under-appreciated actors of our time. He is an extremely hard worker, having participated in 66 film and television acting projects over the past 25 years; and in that span he has produced and directed films as well. Among his performances, I highly esteem his Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's 1988 docudrama, "Bird," for which he won a Best Actor award at Cannes, and his role as a self styled Samurai assassin in Jim Jarmusch's 1999 film, "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai." Splendid as those performances are, they pale in comparison to his personification of the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, in this docudrama about Amin and his relationship with a young (fictional) British doctor, Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy).
Amin, a fatherless youth from a dirt poor family, became a Ugandan Army officer trained by the British and later President from 1971 to 1979. If you wonder how megalomaniacal a character Amin was, just dig the title he is said to have once bestowed upon himself: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular." He idolized Scotland, often wore kilts, and also dubbed himself with the title used for this film (also the title for the novel written by Giles Foden upon which the film is based.
Regarded in the West as a buffoon, Amin became an increasingly dangerous and destructive tyrant over the years, perpetrating ruthless oppression against various ethnic and religious groups, Asians and Jews in particular. Estimates of the numbers slain by his regime vary from 80,000 to 500,000.
But Amin was not a simple fellow, certainly was no fool, and his initial rise to power seemed to derive from genuine populist sentiments and ambitions. Power, however, as we well know, corrupts. Amin's conduct in office darkens over time, and we see the changes. Whitaker's interpretation has Amin by turns eloquent, charming, visionary, ebullient, and, increasingly, arrogant and paranoidally hostile. If Amin was a man of extreme passions, appetites and mood swings, then Whitaker has nailed the man cold. It is an incredibly energetic, astonishing performance.
I wish I could say as much for the rest of the cast and narrative subtexts. But strip away Whitaker, look at the scenes and subtexts in which he is absent, and there's little to see but a soap opera. The Garrigan character is based a real man named Bob Astles, called "Major" Bob, a former British soldier who, according to Foden, inveigled himself into Amin's favor and became part of his apparatus of repression. British newspapers used to call Astles "Amin's White Rat." After Amin's fall, Astles was imprisoned for ten years in a Kampala jail.
James McAvoy is a charming, impish, natural comedian. He was terrific as a mischievous paraplegic in the irreverent 2004 comedy, "Rory O'Shea Was Here." McAvoy's strength as Rory is his downfall here: he's a bright eyed comedic twit miscast as a seriously ambitious and substantial personality. He's not believable: it defies all sensibilities that Amin could take him seriously, much less make him a close adviser.
And, like Rory O'Shea, McAvoy's Dr. Garrigan is easily distracted by attractive women he has no business chasing. He tries valiantly to seduce the Medical Director's wife at the health outreach clinic where he's originally assigned. Later he manages to bed and impregnate Amin's youngest and most attractive wife, Kay (Kerry Washington), right under Amin's nose. Yeah, sure. I'd almost say Garrigan got what he deserved in the end. Not a good idea to cuckhold a murderous African tyrant. Who would be so stupid as to try? My grades: 6.5/10 (low B) (But an A for Whitaker's performance.) (Seen on 01/25/07)