Tartan army tale

Rating: 6/10 (24 September 2007)

Gripping but incongruous movie, juxtaposing a naive, opportunistic and above all else randy young fictional Scottish doctor, played with brio by newcomer James McAvoy - nice to hear a real Scottish accent for a change (are you listening Johnny Depp?), as counterpoint to too-true-to-life despot and dictator Idi Amin. Amin is up there (or should that be down there) with fellow tyrants like Pol Pot and Mugabe in committing heinous sins against his own people, and Forrest Whitaker brings out the child-like monster of his character at one moment enjoying a football kickabout the next ordering the torture and disappearance of imagined political rivals. The film is carried by the two leads, both excellent but I found the grafting on of the fictional thriller-type escape of McAvoy at the end out of synch with the truthfully exposed brutalities of Amin. You care more for the thousands of Ugandans you know died during Amin's bloody reign than for a made-up character ultimately symbolic of nothing. A similar ploy was engaged in the recent TV mini - series "Rome" where it seemed to work much better in my view but nevertheless this is a brave film on a difficult subject shedding light on yet another 20th century monster "of the people". Mr Mugabe are you watching?