Deep,dark fictionalized historical drama,anchored by a devastatingly powerful performance

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2007)

I,personally,knew only the most vague stuff about Ugandan President Idi Amin Dada,and some-perhaps much-of what I knew was legend. Something that was generally accepted was that he was a violent and brutal leader. What this movie,penned by Jeremy Brock and Giles Foden(adapted off a novel,the name of the author escapes me)and directed by Kevin McDonald(not to be confused with the lanky Canadian comedic actor from "Kids in the Hall"),has done for me(And I know I'm not alone here)is catalog how such a brutal enforcer of a leader could be scarily winsome and charismatic as any other politician or demagogue. To be sure,I feel like this is neither a remarkable or unique development in the world of politics,but to get a closer look at this regime and the larger-than-life,mercurial man behind it is still eye-opening.
Scotish Physician Nicholas Garrigan(James McAvoy,who makes me wonder if Hugh Grant has a long-lost Scottish relative)moves to Uganda on somewhat of a whim,expecting to do good for man plying his profession. Not long after being introduced to and working among the children and mothers in the mission he's assigned,he comes into an encounter with the then freshly crowned leader Amin on a chance encounter. Amin(Forrest Whitaker,an actor I've always appreciated,and for whom it makes me very happy to find in a role like this one,getting recognition he's getting for it!) blusters,poses and huffs big and magnanimously. He's a populist of the textbook kind:proudly flouting his humble roots and promising a government that won't poses the largess and graft of the previous regime. Garrigan,partly out of fear,partly out of true admiration of the man,goes along,semi-reluctantly at first,then nearly in oblivion afterwords. Over some years of living as amin's personal physician and(by Amin's own appellation)his personal adviser,Garrigan slowly comes to the realization,through both what he sees on the news and around him,as well as Amin's increasingly erratic behavior,that he's not working so much for a brash 'Man-of-the-people' but a very dangerous man. By then,however,Garrigan has made his proverbial deal with the Devil,and paying up for it will be inevitably brutal.
Despite this being a vast,vivid sweep of Uganda and the 1970s landscape it held,this film's character study is remarkably sparse and concentrated. Amin and Garrigan(believed to be a composite character,based on about four westerners for whom worked in his administration for much of his reign,which was officially deposed in 1979)are the primarily focus here,and as such both Whitaker and McAvoy are strong here,though McAvoy's Garrigan(maybe intentionally so)could illicit incredulity as to how selectively naive someone in his position could be. Kerry Washington(As amin's third wife),Gillian Anderson(as the co-chief of the mission where Garrigan originally works),Simon McBurney(As the Brit diplomat,deep in the know)and David Oyedeno(As the former regime physician)show up and add to the story,but they are sparingly used,there to frame certain chapters in the turn of this relationship between ruler and doctor/adviser,and thusly,ruler and country.
As hard to watch in parts fascinating and difficult to look away from in others,this movie may suffer a little from excess or of narrative abridgment,but it is as worthy as any movie to see this Oscar/Golden GLobe/whatever season. Whiatker in particular,makes this film worth the price of admission. Worth a look.