Review of "The Last King Of Scotland"

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2011)

"The Last King Of Scotland" is the mostly true story of Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy), a young Scottish physician who travels to Uganda and eventually becomes the personal doctor to the dictator, Idi Amin (Whitaker). Directed by Kevin MacDonald, this movie certainly struck a few dissonant chords with me. I'm not saying the film was bad, in fact I found it "The Last King Of Scotland" to be a very remarkable motion picture. However, it is a deeply disturbing piece that aims to show the audience just how deranged Idi Amin was as Uganda's President. Which brings me to the film's most noteworthy aspect - Forest Whitaker's amazing, Academy-Award Winning turn as Idi Amin himself. Forest Whitaker's performance in "The Last King Of Scotland" is incredibly dynamic because at times I found myself laughing, gasping, and cringing in anger at some of the things that Whitaker did on screen. Some of the stuff that Whitaker's Amin does in this movie is truly frightening and really made me realize just how much of a megalomaniacal sociopath Amin was in real life. In fact there is one moment in this movie (one that I won't fully disclose due to it's grisliness) where I found myself just gaping at my television set - yeah stuff gets pretty grotesque. Obviously, Whitaker rightfully earned the Oscar For Best Actor in 2007. As for James McAvoy, he did a great job in his role as the doctor who just can't seem to escape the madness of Idi Amin, and throughout the movie you really learn to feel for his character. The script, of course, was brilliantly written, as it was adapted from the reportedly excellent Giles Foden novel of the same name. In terms of cinematography, I thought that the film's use of close-up shots on Amin really helped to accentuate his sheer madness and insanity. As for the rest of the camera work everything looks clean and efficient. All in all, I found "The Last King Of Scotland" to be a very remarkable, and disconcerting film that effectively used it's brilliant performances and impressive script to highlight the sheer terror that Idi Amin inflicted upon Uganda and it's people.