|
The Last King of Scotland (2006) 7.7
Ratings:
7.7/10 from 101,250 users
Metascore: 74/100
Reviews: 328 user | 249 critic | 36 from Metacritic.com Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s Director:Kevin Macdonald |
| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
User Lists
Related lists from IMDb users
Share this Rating
Title: The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
Learn more
People who liked this also liked...
Catch a Fire
(2006)
Action
|
Biography
|
Drama
Director:
Phillip Noyce
Stars:
Tim Robbins,
Derek Luke,
Bonnie Henna
Public Enemies
(2009)
Biography
|
Crime
|
Drama
Director:
Michael Mann
Stars:
James Russo,
David Wenham,
Johnny Depp
JFK
(1991)
Drama
|
History
|
Thriller
Director:
Oliver Stone
Stars:
Kevin Costner,
Jack Lemmon,
Gary Oldman
The Countess
(2009)
Biography
|
Drama
|
History
Director:
Julie Delpy
Stars:
Julie Delpy,
Daniel Brühl,
William Hurt
Munich
(2005)
Drama
|
History
|
Thriller
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Stars:
Eric Bana,
Daniel Craig,
Ciarán Hinds
The Social Network
(2010)
Biography
|
Drama
Director:
David Fincher
Stars:
Jesse Eisenberg,
Rooney Mara,
Andrew Garfield
The Last Emperor
(1987)
Biography
|
Drama
|
History
Director:
Bernardo Bertolucci
Stars:
John Lone,
Joan Chen,
Peter O'Toole
All the President's Men
(1976)
Drama
|
History
|
Mystery
Director:
Alan J. Pakula
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
Robert Redford,
Jack Warden
Malcolm X
(1992)
Biography
|
Drama
|
History
Director:
Spike Lee
Stars:
Denzel Washington,
Angela Bassett,
Delroy Lindo
Biography
|
Drama
Director:
Tony Goldwyn
Stars:
Hilary Swank,
Sam Rockwell,
Thomas D. Mahard
Thirteen Days
(2000)
Drama
|
History
|
Thriller
Director:
Roger Donaldson
Stars:
Shawn Driscoll,
Kevin Costner,
Drake Cook
A Mighty Heart
(2007)
Biography
|
Drama
|
History
Director:
Michael Winterbottom
Stars:
Dan Futterman,
Angelina Jolie,
Archie Panjabi
Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Forest Whitaker | ... | ||
| James McAvoy | ... | ||
| Kerry Washington | ... | ||
| Gillian Anderson | ... | ||
| Simon McBurney | ... | ||
| David Oyelowo | ... | ||
 |
Stephen Rwangyezi | ... | |
|
|
Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga | ... |
Masanga
(as Abby Mukiibi)
|
|
|
Adam Kotz | ... | |
|
|
Sam Okelo | ... | |
|
|
Sarah Nagayi | ... | |
|
|
Chris Wilson | ... | |
|
|
Dick Stockley | ... |
Times Journalist
(as Dr. Dick Stockley)
|
|
|
Barbara Rafferty | ... | |
|
|
David Ashton | ... | |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
Storyline
In the early 1970s, Nicholas Garrigan, a young semi-idealistic Scottish doctor, comes to Uganda to assist in a rural hospital. Once there, he soon meets up with the new President, Idi Amin, who promises a golden age for the African nation. Garrigan hits it off immediately with the rabid Scotland fan, who soon offers him a senior position in the national health department and becomes one of Amin's closest advisers. However as the years pass, Garrigan cannot help but notice Amin's increasingly erratic behavior that grows beyond a legitimate fear of assassination into a murderous insanity that is driving Uganda into bloody ruin. Realizing his dire situation with the lunatic leader unwilling to let him go home, Garrigan must make some crucial decisions that could mean his death if the despot finds out. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
Taglines:
Charming. Magnetic. Murderous.Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
Rated R for some strong violence and gruesome images, sexual content and language | See all certifications »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
Edit
See more »
See full technical specs »
Details
Release Date:
12 January 2007 (UK) See more »Also Known As:
El último rey de Escocia See more »Box Office
Budget:
£5,000,000 (estimated)Opening Weekend:
£861,991 (UK) (12 January 2007)Gross:
$17,605,861 (USA) (18 May 2007)Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
|Sound Mix:
Dolby DigitalColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1
Edit
Performed by The Ndere Dance Troupe
Solo Voice Betty Akidi
Written by The Ndere Dance Troupe
Arranged by Stephen Rwangyezi
Published by Stephen Rwangyezi on behalf of The Ndere Dance Troupe
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
The airplane shown at the very end taking the hijack victims to safety is an Antonov An-12BK. See more »Goofs
The Southern Comfort bottle shown in the Duty Free shop in the airport is of the 21st century 70 proof blend, a bottle from this time period would have been 76 proof with a different label. See more »Soundtracks
"Acholi Pot Song"Performed by The Ndere Dance Troupe
Solo Voice Betty Akidi
Written by The Ndere Dance Troupe
Arranged by Stephen Rwangyezi
Published by Stephen Rwangyezi on behalf of The Ndere Dance Troupe
See more »
Forest Whitaker's ferociously charismatic turn as Idi Amin so dominates this intense historical fiction that it is honestly difficult to pay attention to anything else in this 2006 political thriller. Even though he is definitively the emotional locus, he is intriguingly not the protagonist of the story. That role belongs to young James McAvoy, who plays Nicholas Garrigan, a precocious Scottish doctor who ventures to Uganda to satisfy his need for adventure after graduating medical school. By happenstance, Garrigan is called upon to help Amin with a minor sprain after his private car plows into a cow. Impressed by the young man's lack of hesitancy to take action, Amin appoints Garrigan to be his personal physician, a post that seduces the impressed doctor into the Ugandan dictator's political inner circle and extravagant lifestyle.
Scottish director Kevin MacDonald brings his extensive documentary film-making skills to the fore here, as he creates a most realistic-feeling atmosphere in capturing the oppressive Uganda of the 1970's. Helping considerably with this image are the vibrant color contrasts in Anthony Dod Mantle's cinematography and the propulsive action induced by Justine Wright's sharp editing. Screenwriters Peter Morgan (who also wrote "The Queen") and Jeremy Brock have developed a sharply delineated character study of Amin, who evolves from a magnetic leader giving hope to his people to a scarifying tyrant conducting murders on an imaginable scale (at least until the genocides in Rwanda and Darfur). It is impossible to over-praise Whitaker's towering performance here. He conveys the dictator's playfulness as well as his unmitigated rage moving from simmering to full boil with a power that is at once bravura and subtle. His relationship with the fictionalized Garrigan turns out to be the plot's essential pivot point, although the contrast between the two can be almost too extreme at times.
While McAvoy admirably captures the boyish naiveté of Garrigan, the character is drawn out in rather broad strokes that make his self-delusion all the more contrived as the story progresses. To intensify the political upheaval portrayed, the plot takes a melodramatic turn into an adulterous affair and even folds in the infamous 1976 Entebbe hijacking incident to illustrate Garrigan's increasingly precarious situation. It's all exciting and even downright brutalizing toward the end, but it also starts to feel a bit too Hollywood in execution. Kerry Washington shows genuine versatility as Amin's cloistered third wife Kay, while Simon McBurney oozes cynical suspicion with ease as a British operative. A convincingly Brit-accented Gillian Anderson makes her few scenes count as a weary clinic worker who proves to have better instincts than Garrigan. But see the movie for Whitaker's magnificent work. He is that good.