"Yes, he's a little unpredictable, but he's got a firm hand."

Rating: 8/10 (14 October 2017)

Back during the late Seventies, I read a book by Henry Kyemba titled "State of Blood: The Inside Story of Idi Amin", and recall a situation involving the Ugandan dictator having numerous members of his opposition summarily thrown into a crocodile infested river as a way of dealing with them. So I was waiting for confirmation of that while watching this picture and the subject finally came up when the diplomatic aide Stone (Simon McBurney) mentioned it to Dr. Garrigan (Kames McAvoy). What was interesting was when I went to Wikipedia to look up the book title, there was a picture of Henry Kyemba looking remarkably similar to the actor who portrayed Jonah Wasswa, Amin's Minister of Health. It turns out that Kyemba WAS Amin's Minister of Health for a short time until he fled Uganda and it's tyrannical rule!
So with that extraordinary coincidence, one has to wonder why the film makers resorted to creating a fictional character in the person of Nicholas Garrigan to tell the story of Idi Amin. Amin's real life story would have made for a much more compelling picture to my mind, and would not have needed the first half of this movie to paint a disarmingly charming aspect of the ruthless dictator. Beyond that, even the most feeble attempt to portray Garrigan in a romantic entanglement with one of Amin's wives borders on the ridiculous, so why even go there?
So as far as fictional stories go, and forgetting about historical accuracy, this was a fairly decent thriller with Forest Whitaker in a significantly cast against type role considering some of his other projects in which he portrays more reserved characters. He makes the transition from faux charm to maniacal craziness work rather effectively, with a unique power of persuasion to keep Garrigan in line each time the doctor expressed doubts about his role at Amin's side as personal physician.
Having read a number of other reviews about the film, and seeing how it wasn't mentioned by anyone else, I'd like to comment on Gillian Anderson's role in the early going as the wife of another medical doctor stationed in Uganda. Her appearance actually stunned me somewhat, in as much as she looked a lot better (that is to say, a lot more attractive) than in any 'X-Files' episode I'd ever seen her in. Just goes to show what was possible after ditching Fox Mulder.