Funny yet equally horrific

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2007)

Part-biopic, part-docudrama, but mostly supercharged thriller, The Last King Of Scotland tells the complex tale of a cocky young doctor Nicholas Garrigan (played by James McAvoy) who comes to Uganda by pure chance in the seventies, only to find himself as the personal assistant of one Idi Amin, the flamboyant dictator-cum-president of the newly independent nation. Just as Amin is won over by the frankness and sense of humour of the young doctor, Garrigan finds himself enchanted by the boisterous charm of his new patient. Amin (electrically played by Forest Whitaker) exhibits a charismatic wit that makes it easy for the audience to understand how he brainwashed so many people. The final act, however, delves deep into the monster that he would inevitably be remembered for  the man who slaughtered 300 thousand of his people, and lived a paranoid reign for most of his time in power. The Last King Of Scotland, despite occasionally hitting a damp note, strikes a worthy balance between the comic and the horrific  thanks largely to the Oscar worthy energy that Whitaker, a truly great and underrated actor, instills his performance with. A blistering thriller with an unusual mixture of haunting imagery and dark comedy, this is one of the early must-see films of the year.