Oscar time for Whitaker, despite the overkill

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2007)

As the youngest of baby boomers are drawn to the novelty of the 1970s as history, we sometimes remember Idi Amin with more humor than horror as the big, black, and flamboyant cannibal king. The Last King of Scotland will change that. And as Westerners have yet to endure the rule and wrath of a cult of personality, we are challenged to find anything redeeming in Stalin, Castro, or Amin let alone charisma. For this reason alone,Forest Whitaker deserves the Oscar for best actor. We knew the "king" was a murderous dictator, but in certain moments, we can't help but like him (especially when excitedly declaring victory after blatantly cheating in a swim race). Glasgow's own James McAvoy, is narrowly more likable as the protagonist Dr.Garrigan whose naivety is defendable if not his Scottish bravado, libido, or botched heroics. The soundtrack's intensity during an African bacchanal, or Garrigan's unsuccessful dash after Sarah (Gillian Anderson) in the back seat of the rolling-away-bus (as seen in hundreds of films) was beyond gratuitous. Given his tendency to commit overkill, we should congratulate director Kevin MacDonald for at least leaving the Entebbe raid and aftermath on the cutting room floor. This was the right place to end the film, using the Israeli commando-rescue operation,as a historical 'restore point' with which most of the target audience will be familiar. Certain scenes are memorably enhanced by changing film stocks including a bewitching sketch where the"Field Marshal" spontaneously joins the tribal dancers commemorating his appearance at a regional rally. With unlikely subtlety, these scenes match the epilogue, a collage of historical footage of the real Amin and somber posting of his handiwork (300,000 Ugandan civilians murdered). The Last King of Scotland should be important to Western viewers as our ignorance of matters African, is no longer viable.