A Fictional Story Offers A Glimpse Of Reality

Rating: 7/10 (1 October 2007)

I've been intrigued by "The Last King Of Scotland" for some time and have finally had the opportunity to view it. The movie is an adaptation of a novel offering the fictionalized story of a young Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) who becomes personal physician to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, and we see the descent of that country into a brutal nightmare through his eyes. The movie is for the most part well done, and I wanted to mention a couple of highlights for me.
First is the performance of Forrest Whittaker playing Amin. I have to confess that I've never been totally captured by Whittaker as an actor for whatever reason, but in this, he nailed the part. I've often thought of Amin as having been a simple, brutal thug-like creature, and yet Whittaker is able to capture the complexities of the man quite well. Sometimes a childish prankster, often a brutal sadist, always the showman, and increasingly paranoid as time goes on - Whittaker captured all of that. It was a very impressive performance in what must have been a difficult role. The other thing I truly appreciated was the way the reality of Amin's reign was believably woven into the fictional storyline, as the country moves from rejoicing over his seizure of power to terror at his hands. There are a couple of scenes where the violence of the regime is portrayed quite graphically, but for the most part it's the sense of terror that really fills the movie and moves it along and makes it work.
The weakest part of the movie was the fictional storyline that weaves everything together. Dr. Nicholas Garrigan ends up as Amin's personal physician in what I thought was an implausible manner - even given the unpredictability of Amin's nature. That very implausibility made it difficult to take this movie too seriously, even given the strong points I mention above. That doesn't make this a bad movie - it's a very good movie, but it does take away a little bit from it. Having said that, the best line of the movie - and what probably sums Amin up as well as anyone could - belongs to Garrigan. Beaten, and about to be brutally tortured, Garrigan looks at Amin and says "you're a child, and that's what makes you so f***ing scary!" Overall, I'd rate this as a 7/10.