Gripping, brutal and powerful, 'The Last King of Scotland' is a brilliant dramatic depiction of the life of megalomaniac Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, perfectly portrayed by Forest Whitaker in his Oscar-winning performance as one of the greatest casting against type roles seen in film. His Amin is capricious and unpredictable, a personality that can seem volcanic one moment and vulnerable a few minutes later. A blunt and brutal tale, and one that is highly engaging from start to finish. A taut political thriller about power and corruption. Macdonald's riveting and incandescent direction caps this fictionalised drama, a truly stunning flick that remains as a highlight of film in 2006.
373 Reviews
Idi Amin, Entertainer
janos45128 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Life, unlike bad movies, is seldom obvious. In life, murderous dictators don't appear - especially at first - as mustache-twirling Snidley Whiplash figures, cackling madly (although Mussolini came close). The scary truth about monsters is that they are three-dimensional beings, not cardboard cutouts, who just kill a lot of people, but otherwise put their pants on one leg at a time, like you and I, and that makes them so much scarier than if they came from another planet.
In the best film of the "dictator genre," Oliver Hirschbiegel's brilliant "Downfall," Hitler appears as a man who is kind to his dog and his secretary (roughly in that order), and the impact of the work is all the greater as we witness what a "real person" is capable of doing. In Luis Puenzo's "The Official Story," Pinochet's reign of terror is depicted through a single act of violence, as a door is slammed on Norma Aleandro's hand; the effect is stunning and "real."
In the hands of a less talented director, the story of Idi Amin would be told against mountains of skulls and bones left behind by Uganda's mad ruler in the 1970s. (His total toll is estimated at 300,000.) In Kevin Macdonald's complex, intelligent, gripping "The Last King of Scotland," more than half of the two-hour film subtly implies, hints at the dark forces underneath normalcy while "life goes on."
And so, having established real contact with the audience, a jolly and seductive Forest Whitaker then takes our breath away as the mask comes off, and his Amin reaches out from the screen for your throat.
Macdonald - whose previous works are documentaries, including the Oscar-winning "One Day in September," about the Munich Olympics terrorist incident - looks at Amin through the eyes of a young Scottish doctor (James McAvoy), a well-meaning, honest humanitarian slowly seduced by the Scots-loving Amin, who appoints him his personal doctor and then adviser.
The McAvoy character is fictional (although Amin did have a Scottish doctor), coming from Giles Foden's novel of the same name, but just about everything else in the film is based on fact - so much so that some documentary footage is smoothly integrated into the film. And yet, what's important and outstanding about "Last King" is that just as a painting can surpass a photograph in presenting reality, this film conveys the seduction and horror of a brutal dictatorship indirectly, subtly, unexpectedly.
Unexpected - and welcome - are the many flashes of humor, both Whitaker (dictator with personality) and McAvoy (eager pup of a doctor with overactive hormones) making the best of it. The tone is set in the opening sequence, as the frustrated, suppressed young Dr. Garrigan spins a small globe, swearing repeatedly that he will move to the first spot ("the first!") where he points when the globe stops. The first spot turns out to be Canada. McAvoy/Garrigan takes one look, hesitates... and spins again. And so to Uganda...
The linear, freely-flowing story-telling is masterful, taking us from the small village where Dr. Garrigan comes to do good and ends up doing well through a chance meeting with Amin, to Kampala, much court intrigue and colorful depravity (even as the fate of a nation is at stake), and eventually to Entebbe.
Fun and games, authentic scenery (the film was shot in Uganda), subtlety, psychology, a heart-pounding scene at Entebbe (after the hijacking, but before the Israeli rescue), nudity, sex, violence, harrowing questions about "what would you do," and all - "Last King" is a wonderful compendium of facts and greater truths. Also, a hell of a good movie.
In the best film of the "dictator genre," Oliver Hirschbiegel's brilliant "Downfall," Hitler appears as a man who is kind to his dog and his secretary (roughly in that order), and the impact of the work is all the greater as we witness what a "real person" is capable of doing. In Luis Puenzo's "The Official Story," Pinochet's reign of terror is depicted through a single act of violence, as a door is slammed on Norma Aleandro's hand; the effect is stunning and "real."
In the hands of a less talented director, the story of Idi Amin would be told against mountains of skulls and bones left behind by Uganda's mad ruler in the 1970s. (His total toll is estimated at 300,000.) In Kevin Macdonald's complex, intelligent, gripping "The Last King of Scotland," more than half of the two-hour film subtly implies, hints at the dark forces underneath normalcy while "life goes on."
And so, having established real contact with the audience, a jolly and seductive Forest Whitaker then takes our breath away as the mask comes off, and his Amin reaches out from the screen for your throat.
Macdonald - whose previous works are documentaries, including the Oscar-winning "One Day in September," about the Munich Olympics terrorist incident - looks at Amin through the eyes of a young Scottish doctor (James McAvoy), a well-meaning, honest humanitarian slowly seduced by the Scots-loving Amin, who appoints him his personal doctor and then adviser.
The McAvoy character is fictional (although Amin did have a Scottish doctor), coming from Giles Foden's novel of the same name, but just about everything else in the film is based on fact - so much so that some documentary footage is smoothly integrated into the film. And yet, what's important and outstanding about "Last King" is that just as a painting can surpass a photograph in presenting reality, this film conveys the seduction and horror of a brutal dictatorship indirectly, subtly, unexpectedly.
Unexpected - and welcome - are the many flashes of humor, both Whitaker (dictator with personality) and McAvoy (eager pup of a doctor with overactive hormones) making the best of it. The tone is set in the opening sequence, as the frustrated, suppressed young Dr. Garrigan spins a small globe, swearing repeatedly that he will move to the first spot ("the first!") where he points when the globe stops. The first spot turns out to be Canada. McAvoy/Garrigan takes one look, hesitates... and spins again. And so to Uganda...
The linear, freely-flowing story-telling is masterful, taking us from the small village where Dr. Garrigan comes to do good and ends up doing well through a chance meeting with Amin, to Kampala, much court intrigue and colorful depravity (even as the fate of a nation is at stake), and eventually to Entebbe.
Fun and games, authentic scenery (the film was shot in Uganda), subtlety, psychology, a heart-pounding scene at Entebbe (after the hijacking, but before the Israeli rescue), nudity, sex, violence, harrowing questions about "what would you do," and all - "Last King" is a wonderful compendium of facts and greater truths. Also, a hell of a good movie.
Whitaker's Towering Portrayal of the Mesmerizing Ugandan Dictator Lifts This Historical Fiction
EUyeshima2 February 2007
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.
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.
Forrest Whitaker alone is worth the price of admission
jimpyke24 October 2006
How can an actor terrify you without saying a word, without even hardly moving his face or body? I'm not sure how he does it, but Mr. Whitaker does it over and over again in this movie. And then he turns around the next minute and becomes giant hug-able teddy bear superhero. Forget all the others, this is the best horror film of the year. This movie, and his performance in particular, grab hold of you and never let go. Whitaker should win an Oscar for best actor, I've never seen a better performance in my life. Also notable is the Nicholas Garrigan character who is written and acted very skilfully to draw the (non-African) spectator into the world of Uganda and Amin. The way his character willingly "falls into" Amin's web of charisma somehow goes a long way toward mitigating the racist potential of a story about a very troubled (African black) man. The way the interplay of the two lead character's cultural backgrounds plays out on screen moves the story beyond just their personalities and into the realm of incisive socio-political analysis and critique. This movie is quite incredible, really.
Basically this is excellent historical fiction about the torturous Idi Amin
justgazin24 September 2006
There have been so few pictures this year that are standouts. This movie is one of them. Much of what you will see is true, and did occur in Uganda's history. Amin's doctor, played by James Macavoy, is the main fiction in the movie, but one would think they are watching a historical event. Macavoy's character is so real. The doctor grows from a free thinking, adventure loving, womanizer, to a scared, concerned, and enlightened person. The viewer watches through Macavoys eyes as he witnesses the horrors of Amin's (Forest Whitaker's) presidency and regime.
Forest Whitaker, IS Amin in this feature. Whitaker is not the silent sometimes brooding character you remember in other films he has been in. His accent,his face, and his emotions seem to no longer be Whitaker's but Amin's. This movie will scare the viewer because of its realism, and how it builds up to a tension that is hard to endure. The visuals are not for the squeamish. Go ahead and hide your eyes during the "tough" scenes. It is still worth seeing this movie for the fast paced story, realistic drama, fascinating tale, and for the unbelievable acting. By the end of the movie the audience is exhausted, but satisfied that they saw a worthy flick.
Forest Whitaker, IS Amin in this feature. Whitaker is not the silent sometimes brooding character you remember in other films he has been in. His accent,his face, and his emotions seem to no longer be Whitaker's but Amin's. This movie will scare the viewer because of its realism, and how it builds up to a tension that is hard to endure. The visuals are not for the squeamish. Go ahead and hide your eyes during the "tough" scenes. It is still worth seeing this movie for the fast paced story, realistic drama, fascinating tale, and for the unbelievable acting. By the end of the movie the audience is exhausted, but satisfied that they saw a worthy flick.
You're My Closest Adviser
ferguson-61 November 2006
Greetings again from the darkness. A true tour de force by Forest Whitaker ... the best performance of the year so far! Somehow Mr. Whitaker captures the madness and charm of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Amin was one of the first political rock stars. He used the media to his advantage as his regime slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his countrymen.
Also impressive is James McAvoy ("Chronicles of Narnia") who plays the dramatized Nicholas Garrigan, a young doctor who sets out on an adventure to make a difference in a small country and ends up counseling one of the most powerful madmen in history. Scottish documentarian Kevin Macdonald directs the film with only a few lapses in directness, which serve this biopic very well. Watching Amin and the young doctor immerse themselves in the shower of power is both frightening and sickening. Macdonald captures this spirit very well thanks mostly to his willingness to let his two leads do their thing.
As Amin laughs and tells Garrigan that "You are my closest adviser", I couldn't help but compare to Kathy Bates telling James Caan (in "Misery") that "I'm your number one fan". The evil and insanity is simply chilling. Whitaker is just amazing as he flips the switch from media darling to cold blooded, ruthless murderer ... and then back again. Just a terrific performance and well worth the price of admission - maybe a couple of times! Good for a laugh is the most unique version of Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee" that you have ever heard ... guaranteed! See this one for a bit of history and the site of a real monster, but also for one of the best film performances ever.
Also impressive is James McAvoy ("Chronicles of Narnia") who plays the dramatized Nicholas Garrigan, a young doctor who sets out on an adventure to make a difference in a small country and ends up counseling one of the most powerful madmen in history. Scottish documentarian Kevin Macdonald directs the film with only a few lapses in directness, which serve this biopic very well. Watching Amin and the young doctor immerse themselves in the shower of power is both frightening and sickening. Macdonald captures this spirit very well thanks mostly to his willingness to let his two leads do their thing.
As Amin laughs and tells Garrigan that "You are my closest adviser", I couldn't help but compare to Kathy Bates telling James Caan (in "Misery") that "I'm your number one fan". The evil and insanity is simply chilling. Whitaker is just amazing as he flips the switch from media darling to cold blooded, ruthless murderer ... and then back again. Just a terrific performance and well worth the price of admission - maybe a couple of times! Good for a laugh is the most unique version of Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee" that you have ever heard ... guaranteed! See this one for a bit of history and the site of a real monster, but also for one of the best film performances ever.
A Hugely Exciting African-Set Thriller
evanston_dad21 October 2006
With "The Last King of Scotland," Kevin MacDonald has created a bracing, exciting and totally satisfying thriller.
Forest Whitaker gives a titanic performance as Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator who rose to power in the 1970s. James McAvoy plays Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish physician who travels to Uganda for the adventure and wins Amin's affections, becoming his personal doctor. Garrigan enters into a moral crisis as he begins to realize the kind of man Amin is, and begins to fear for his own life as events spiral more and more out of his control.
Whitaker seizes the chance to play this larger than life character and runs with it -- I've never seen Whitaker give so convincing and transforming a performance. However, as good as he is, McAvoy impressed me more. His performance as Garrigan is not as showy, but it's much more textured and subtle, and his character has the bigger arc from start to finish. Gillian Anderson also does terrific work in a small role as a fellow doctor, who understands things about Amin and the African culture that Garrigan does not.
Unlike other recent thrillers set in African nations ("The Constant Gardener," "Hotel Rwanda"), "The Last King of Scotland" is not greatly concerned with the geo-political implications of Amin's reign. The atrocities he committed against Ugandans are given only the barest of mentions, and the film sticks almost exclusively to Garrigan and the danger he himself faces. Some may think the film is irresponsible for this reason -- that the plight of one man pales in comparison to the plight of thousands, and I can see where a criticism like that is justified. But the movie packs a powerful wallop regardless, and complaints like this seem like quibbles when up against such an entertaining movie.
Grade: A
Forest Whitaker gives a titanic performance as Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator who rose to power in the 1970s. James McAvoy plays Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish physician who travels to Uganda for the adventure and wins Amin's affections, becoming his personal doctor. Garrigan enters into a moral crisis as he begins to realize the kind of man Amin is, and begins to fear for his own life as events spiral more and more out of his control.
Whitaker seizes the chance to play this larger than life character and runs with it -- I've never seen Whitaker give so convincing and transforming a performance. However, as good as he is, McAvoy impressed me more. His performance as Garrigan is not as showy, but it's much more textured and subtle, and his character has the bigger arc from start to finish. Gillian Anderson also does terrific work in a small role as a fellow doctor, who understands things about Amin and the African culture that Garrigan does not.
Unlike other recent thrillers set in African nations ("The Constant Gardener," "Hotel Rwanda"), "The Last King of Scotland" is not greatly concerned with the geo-political implications of Amin's reign. The atrocities he committed against Ugandans are given only the barest of mentions, and the film sticks almost exclusively to Garrigan and the danger he himself faces. Some may think the film is irresponsible for this reason -- that the plight of one man pales in comparison to the plight of thousands, and I can see where a criticism like that is justified. But the movie packs a powerful wallop regardless, and complaints like this seem like quibbles when up against such an entertaining movie.
Grade: A
Forest Whitaker-Scary as Hell
WriterDave15 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
"The Last King of Scotland" is a slickly made powder keg of a film about Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker) horrific dictatorship over Uganda in the 1970's as seen through the eyes of his fictionalized Scottish doctor (James McAvoy). Whitaker is mesmerizing from the word "go" and brilliantly displays how captivating a character Amin was: charming, theatrical, paranoid, and mad as hell.
Director Kevin MacDonald only alludes to the horrors (300,000 massacred) while delivering a music-video style account of the free-wheeling decadence of Amin's regime while he still played in favor to his people. Much of the film runs like the early parts of P.T. Anderson's "Boogie Nights" or any gangster saga from Scrorsese: hyper-edited, smoothly shot scenes depicting humor, violence, sex, nudity, and overly-indulged individuals new to money and power. It would've been more compelling had tighter focus been paid to Amin instead of the highly unlikable doctor character, who for the most part comes across as a flighty, over-educated twit with foggy ideas on good deeds and uncontrollable hormones that lead him to hounding after every marginally attractive married woman he comes across, including a barely recognizable Gillian Anderson donning a British accent, and Kerry Washington as Amin's third wife (duh, doc!).
About two-thirds of the way through, MacDonald lets Whitaker loose, and his rampage is awe-inspiring. It culminates in a pulse-pounding white-knuckle twenty minutes that muddle a historical event concerning Israeli hostages with the shockingly brutal finale of the young Scott's stay in Uganda. Again, it would've been more emotionally involving had the doctor been more deserving of our sympathy. Still, Whitaker is fuming and unforgettable. He totally embodies the spirit of the oft-discussed and debated mad dictator, so much so that when the closing credits roll and we see stock footage of the real Amin, you'd swear these were images of Idi Amin playing Forest Whitaker.
Director Kevin MacDonald only alludes to the horrors (300,000 massacred) while delivering a music-video style account of the free-wheeling decadence of Amin's regime while he still played in favor to his people. Much of the film runs like the early parts of P.T. Anderson's "Boogie Nights" or any gangster saga from Scrorsese: hyper-edited, smoothly shot scenes depicting humor, violence, sex, nudity, and overly-indulged individuals new to money and power. It would've been more compelling had tighter focus been paid to Amin instead of the highly unlikable doctor character, who for the most part comes across as a flighty, over-educated twit with foggy ideas on good deeds and uncontrollable hormones that lead him to hounding after every marginally attractive married woman he comes across, including a barely recognizable Gillian Anderson donning a British accent, and Kerry Washington as Amin's third wife (duh, doc!).
About two-thirds of the way through, MacDonald lets Whitaker loose, and his rampage is awe-inspiring. It culminates in a pulse-pounding white-knuckle twenty minutes that muddle a historical event concerning Israeli hostages with the shockingly brutal finale of the young Scott's stay in Uganda. Again, it would've been more emotionally involving had the doctor been more deserving of our sympathy. Still, Whitaker is fuming and unforgettable. He totally embodies the spirit of the oft-discussed and debated mad dictator, so much so that when the closing credits roll and we see stock footage of the real Amin, you'd swear these were images of Idi Amin playing Forest Whitaker.
Astonishing film, that is carried by a great story and performances
poojucu11 April 2007
The last king of Scotland is scorcher of a film that follows the story of the horrid dictatorship that took over Uganda in the 1970s. The movie is seen completely through the eyes of young Nicolas Garrigan( James Mcavoy)a young Scottish doctor who decides he is tired of Scotland and ready to venture into another country to make a difference.
Soon after he begins his work in the town he begins a friendship with Idi Amin(Forest Whitaker)a powerful African leader who offers Garrigan a job as his personal doctor. Their developing relationship is wonderful to behold on screen, and for me was the main strength and the key point that made this movie go above and beyond.
Spoiler ahead:
Being a ill informed young adult I know close to nothing about African history, so therefore I had no idea what kind of leader Idi Amin was until the crashing scene when Garrigan figures out that he is actually a murderous dictator, who is destroying the African economy. This misfortune of mine made this particular moment in the film simply magic, and I found myself just trying to get my head around how such a loving and joyful character can actually be so violent.
End of Spoiler:
This is where I realized what a fantastic performance Forest Whitaker had actually given. He had fooled me into thinking he was someone else, he had made me think that he was actually a genuine democrat only concerned about the Ugandan people. His change in character is so superb at times too that I found myself thinking that is simply unfair. James Mcavoy although overshadowed by Forest Whitakers brilliant performance deserves credit too. His portrayal of the young Scottish doctor who is both naive and brave is fantastic, and it is great to watch the young Scotsman grow with every movie hes in.
Overall this is a simply astonishing film, telling an important story with some great performances. No criticism even worth mentioning for this movie that kept me on the edge of my seat til the very end.
Soon after he begins his work in the town he begins a friendship with Idi Amin(Forest Whitaker)a powerful African leader who offers Garrigan a job as his personal doctor. Their developing relationship is wonderful to behold on screen, and for me was the main strength and the key point that made this movie go above and beyond.
Spoiler ahead:
Being a ill informed young adult I know close to nothing about African history, so therefore I had no idea what kind of leader Idi Amin was until the crashing scene when Garrigan figures out that he is actually a murderous dictator, who is destroying the African economy. This misfortune of mine made this particular moment in the film simply magic, and I found myself just trying to get my head around how such a loving and joyful character can actually be so violent.
End of Spoiler:
This is where I realized what a fantastic performance Forest Whitaker had actually given. He had fooled me into thinking he was someone else, he had made me think that he was actually a genuine democrat only concerned about the Ugandan people. His change in character is so superb at times too that I found myself thinking that is simply unfair. James Mcavoy although overshadowed by Forest Whitakers brilliant performance deserves credit too. His portrayal of the young Scottish doctor who is both naive and brave is fantastic, and it is great to watch the young Scotsman grow with every movie hes in.
Overall this is a simply astonishing film, telling an important story with some great performances. No criticism even worth mentioning for this movie that kept me on the edge of my seat til the very end.
Toxic temptations
Chris Knipp30 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
In this film Kevin Macdonald, a Scot, directs James McAvoy, a Scot, as Nicholas Garrigan, a brash, spirited, and foolish young doctor just out of medical school in the early 1970's who overnight becomes a close associate of Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), the new dictator of Uganda. Amin had served in the British army and developed an admiration for the Scots. He gave himself the title "His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, King of Scotland, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular." He liked to dress his soldiers in kilts and have them sing Scottish songs.
Before this Macdonald made Touching the Void and other documentaries, including One Day in September, about the Munich Israeli Olympic team massacre. This film, which is not a documentary and departs freely from fact at least at certain key points, is based on the 1997 novel by Giles Foden, which concerns the doctor. But Macdonald's writers, including Jeremy Brock, who penned Mrs. Brown, and Peter Morgan, who scripted Frears' The Queen, have jazzed up the more bland original character and made him younger and bolder. Garrigan has picked Uganda at random. He is attractive and dashing: he's already flirting with the pretty blonde wife of the head of the rural medical clinic he's come to work in, when he's grabbed, with her, to "save" the paranoid Amin. The newly ascended President for Life has hurt his hand in an accident involving a farmer's cow. Garrigan impresses Amin by not just calmly fixing his sprained hand but also grabbing his presidential pistol and putting the cow out of its misery.
When Amin learns Nicholas is a Scot, he takes off his military shirt complete with medals and trades it on the spot for a "Scotland" T-shirt Nicolas is wearing -- for his son, Campbell. Amin has another son named Macgregor.
Almost immediately thereafter Amin persuades the young doctor to leave the clinic and become his personal physician in Kampala, the capital (where the movie was shot), sets him up with a Mercedes and a posh apartment in the presidential compound, and makes him a most trusted consultant, allowing him to decide on the design for a major building. Observing this exceptional access, a cynical British diplomat (Simon McBurney) approaches Nicholas and cautions him to "keep in touch," an offer the young man initially rebuffs.
Garrigan's seduced, as are we, initially, by Amin's charisma and charm, and only gradually does he become skeptical and eventually horrified as he realizes he's the intimate of a ferocious dictator who, estimates say, killed off 300,000 of his citizens, as well as expelling all the Asians from the country. What's interesting is how the daring young man as we see him can hardly help being thus seduced; how the two men seduce each other. But Nicholas is in a terribly weak position when things go wrong. Whitaker and McAvoy play off each other nicely as they act out this process.
Several dramatic events involving Garrigan in the two-hour film's latter segment strain credulity, including the way the young doctor's escape is intertwined with the Entebbe plane hijacking incident, and the kinds of trouble he gets into on the way to that escape.
What makes this film, whose plot line can scarcely compete with that of the more multi-leveled and thought-provoking The Constant Gardener, and which has a grainy newsreel look that's undistinguished, is Forest Whitaker's astonishing performance as Idi Amin Dada. Whitaker usually plays soft spoken, sensitive types. This time he nails a range from fearful to seductive to terrifying, connecting them with a seamlessly explosive energy. One would say Whitaker is this picture, except that it's unmistakably also young McAvoy's. Essential to the film is the way McAvoy, who's had mostly more minor and more purely physical roles before (he was the fawn in Narnia) plays off Whitaker beautifully and woos us too with his convincing enthusiasm and dash. This is a very watchable but also disturbing movie which one wishes might have maintained greater verisimilitude. When documentarians embroider the truth, sometimes they go off way too far. But this is not unusual: a great performance in a less-than-great movie. We have to take what we can get, and in The Last King of Scotland we get a very wild ride.
Before this Macdonald made Touching the Void and other documentaries, including One Day in September, about the Munich Israeli Olympic team massacre. This film, which is not a documentary and departs freely from fact at least at certain key points, is based on the 1997 novel by Giles Foden, which concerns the doctor. But Macdonald's writers, including Jeremy Brock, who penned Mrs. Brown, and Peter Morgan, who scripted Frears' The Queen, have jazzed up the more bland original character and made him younger and bolder. Garrigan has picked Uganda at random. He is attractive and dashing: he's already flirting with the pretty blonde wife of the head of the rural medical clinic he's come to work in, when he's grabbed, with her, to "save" the paranoid Amin. The newly ascended President for Life has hurt his hand in an accident involving a farmer's cow. Garrigan impresses Amin by not just calmly fixing his sprained hand but also grabbing his presidential pistol and putting the cow out of its misery.
When Amin learns Nicholas is a Scot, he takes off his military shirt complete with medals and trades it on the spot for a "Scotland" T-shirt Nicolas is wearing -- for his son, Campbell. Amin has another son named Macgregor.
Almost immediately thereafter Amin persuades the young doctor to leave the clinic and become his personal physician in Kampala, the capital (where the movie was shot), sets him up with a Mercedes and a posh apartment in the presidential compound, and makes him a most trusted consultant, allowing him to decide on the design for a major building. Observing this exceptional access, a cynical British diplomat (Simon McBurney) approaches Nicholas and cautions him to "keep in touch," an offer the young man initially rebuffs.
Garrigan's seduced, as are we, initially, by Amin's charisma and charm, and only gradually does he become skeptical and eventually horrified as he realizes he's the intimate of a ferocious dictator who, estimates say, killed off 300,000 of his citizens, as well as expelling all the Asians from the country. What's interesting is how the daring young man as we see him can hardly help being thus seduced; how the two men seduce each other. But Nicholas is in a terribly weak position when things go wrong. Whitaker and McAvoy play off each other nicely as they act out this process.
Several dramatic events involving Garrigan in the two-hour film's latter segment strain credulity, including the way the young doctor's escape is intertwined with the Entebbe plane hijacking incident, and the kinds of trouble he gets into on the way to that escape.
What makes this film, whose plot line can scarcely compete with that of the more multi-leveled and thought-provoking The Constant Gardener, and which has a grainy newsreel look that's undistinguished, is Forest Whitaker's astonishing performance as Idi Amin Dada. Whitaker usually plays soft spoken, sensitive types. This time he nails a range from fearful to seductive to terrifying, connecting them with a seamlessly explosive energy. One would say Whitaker is this picture, except that it's unmistakably also young McAvoy's. Essential to the film is the way McAvoy, who's had mostly more minor and more purely physical roles before (he was the fawn in Narnia) plays off Whitaker beautifully and woos us too with his convincing enthusiasm and dash. This is a very watchable but also disturbing movie which one wishes might have maintained greater verisimilitude. When documentarians embroider the truth, sometimes they go off way too far. But this is not unusual: a great performance in a less-than-great movie. We have to take what we can get, and in The Last King of Scotland we get a very wild ride.
Kudos To Everyone Here, Not Just Whitaker
ccthemovieman-112 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I agree Forest Whitaker was very good as the famous mentally-disturbed leader of Uganda, Idi Amin, back in the 1970s but, despite the Oscar he received as "Best Actor," I thought the best thing about this film was the involving story. Once the co-star of the film, James McAvoy as "Dr.Nicholas Garrigan," became Amin's personal doctor this film, like a good book, became really difficult to put down. It was a very interesting story which got better and better as it went along. It's also one you won't forget about in a few days. This one stays with you!
Make no mistake: Whitaker was excellent as Amin but McAvoy was just as good as the young Scot who found himself involved in something a lot bigger and more sinister than ever thought possible. Frankly, I couldn't stand his character or anything about him. For a doctor, the guy was scumbag, hitting on any attractive married woman he could find, willing to do abortions, was easily led by opulence and flattery, and was smug and stupid throughout much of the film with this silly smart-ass grin on his face. He almost had me rooting for Amin, which means he must have done a pretty good job of acting. too. When the "good doctor" was stupid enough to have sex with one of Amin's wives, I thought it would be the end for him. It almost was, as we saw in the movie, and I didn't feel too sorry for him. If this was a true story, the man is unbelievably lucky to escape with his private parts, much less his life. He got off scot-free, you could say (pun intended.)
"Dr. Garrigan" was a typical good-hearted-but-naive young Liberal who wouldn't listen to the older guys, looking at them in a condescending, snotty way. The best part of the film was when he needed those old politicos to help him leave the country and they gave him back a little of his own sarcastic medicine.
Nonetheless, Amin was a brutal man and much more so than he is portrayed in this film. It's a disgrace he was able to live comfortably in exile until 2003. Whitaker's portrayal of the sociopath doesn't touch the surface of the Amin's evilness, but Amin, truth be told, was also a charmer. It's amazing how a little charm can make even a mass murderer look like a nice guy.
In addition to the fine acting performances of Whitaker and McAvoy, I thought the camera-work in here was well above-average, too. This is a nicely-filmed movie, and credit should go to cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. I don't hear much praise going his way but I really liked the visuals in here.
Are there holes in this story? Yes, especially in the last 10 minutes, but - that's the movies, for you. I'm not sure if I'd watch this a number of times, but I am glad I saw it and it's two hours of involving entertainment. It's definitely recommended.
Make no mistake: Whitaker was excellent as Amin but McAvoy was just as good as the young Scot who found himself involved in something a lot bigger and more sinister than ever thought possible. Frankly, I couldn't stand his character or anything about him. For a doctor, the guy was scumbag, hitting on any attractive married woman he could find, willing to do abortions, was easily led by opulence and flattery, and was smug and stupid throughout much of the film with this silly smart-ass grin on his face. He almost had me rooting for Amin, which means he must have done a pretty good job of acting. too. When the "good doctor" was stupid enough to have sex with one of Amin's wives, I thought it would be the end for him. It almost was, as we saw in the movie, and I didn't feel too sorry for him. If this was a true story, the man is unbelievably lucky to escape with his private parts, much less his life. He got off scot-free, you could say (pun intended.)
"Dr. Garrigan" was a typical good-hearted-but-naive young Liberal who wouldn't listen to the older guys, looking at them in a condescending, snotty way. The best part of the film was when he needed those old politicos to help him leave the country and they gave him back a little of his own sarcastic medicine.
Nonetheless, Amin was a brutal man and much more so than he is portrayed in this film. It's a disgrace he was able to live comfortably in exile until 2003. Whitaker's portrayal of the sociopath doesn't touch the surface of the Amin's evilness, but Amin, truth be told, was also a charmer. It's amazing how a little charm can make even a mass murderer look like a nice guy.
In addition to the fine acting performances of Whitaker and McAvoy, I thought the camera-work in here was well above-average, too. This is a nicely-filmed movie, and credit should go to cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. I don't hear much praise going his way but I really liked the visuals in here.
Are there holes in this story? Yes, especially in the last 10 minutes, but - that's the movies, for you. I'm not sure if I'd watch this a number of times, but I am glad I saw it and it's two hours of involving entertainment. It's definitely recommended.
Powerful, epic, personal and affecting
MarshallStax24 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
It may seem like an unusual name for a movie about the events surrounding the 1970's rise to power of Ugandan military dictator Idi Amin, but to see is to understand.
The plot, based on a novel that in turn was inspired by actual events, follows a freshly-minted young Scottish doctor named Nicholas Garrigan. In just a few quick scenes, director Kevin Macdonald clearly shows us that this drinking, pot smoking free spirit is terrified by his suffocating future of being a family practitioner in business with his overbearing old man.
Not nearly as sure of what he wants as what he doesn't want, Nick spins a globe and winds up in Uganda just as a coup has taken place. The director again lets us know quickly what this young Scot's about; Nick has a hard time keeping his hands off the ladies, as he jumps right into the sack with a flirtatious fellow bus traveler before he arrives at the village where he is to assist the resident doctor.
A nicely slimmed down and understated Gillian Anderson, sporting a decent British accent, portrays the doctor's beautiful and under-appreciated wife. She picks up Nick from the bus stop and ferries him to his post through an eerie night road scape full of ghostly Ugandans wandering in the truck's headlights.
Nick enjoys some aspects of his new gig: playing soccer with the kids, vaccinating little ones against the diseases that ravage the land, and yes, eyeing the doctor's wife.
His seduction attempt nearly succeeds; Anderson smartly portrays a good woman whose need to be bad is only slightly weaker than her desire to be noble. Still in turmoil, they attend a rally nearby where Idi Amin is addressing his new constituents. Charismatic and rabble-rousing, Forest Whitaker convincingly portrays the first of many facets of Amin that will be revealed throughout the course of this film.
It would be a disservice to the viewer who has not yet seen this thick, affecting film to describe the plot in any more detail, but suffice it to say that a fortuitous encounter with the dictator soon leads to Nick away from his boredom, good works and untasted forbidden fruit of the countryside village to the inner circle of the charming, terrifying and possibly insane bully Amin.
The aimlessness of Nick's life begins to come clear for him as he gets deeper and deeper into the moral quagmire of being chief adviser and personal physician to the man who was ultimately responsible for the 300,000 deaths of those who opposed him within Uganda.
The ending, after a build-up nearly as hallucinatory and overwhelming as "Apocalypse Now", comes down during the Entebbe hijacking and hostage crisis of 1976.
Nick's journey is told without a misstep and an epic, significant air hangs over this grainy, you-are-there photography. And the impact of casual violence and its affect on the value of human life has rarely been portrayed with more vividness than in this film. Nothing done by a Freddy or a Jason can match the atrocities visited upon those on the wrong side of Amin's politics, paranoia or temper.
For the squeamish, this is a harrowing ride.
The soundtrack throbs with African popular music of the time (think Fela Kuti, with less improv and more melody) and the sense of time and place is utterly convincing.
As well made as this film is, it is still the cake that the icing of the actors decorates. Forest Whitaker gives what is without a doubt the performance of his career in Idi Amin. And Oscar nomination, if not an outright win, is a certainty if there is any justice in this world. And James McAvoy's callow Nicholas grows in heft and morality before our eyes. At first, he enjoys the opulence and easy living of being among Amin's inner circle, but, as he continues to dally with the wrong ladies and mock the covert operatives from England that approach him, an actual person with inner strength appears. And though his answer to all this is to run away, the impediments placed in his path teach him a thing or two about being a human being. MacAvoy deserves plentiful praise for bringing this pleasure-seeking young doctor to life, then shepherding him through these changes believably before our eyes.
The plot, based on a novel that in turn was inspired by actual events, follows a freshly-minted young Scottish doctor named Nicholas Garrigan. In just a few quick scenes, director Kevin Macdonald clearly shows us that this drinking, pot smoking free spirit is terrified by his suffocating future of being a family practitioner in business with his overbearing old man.
Not nearly as sure of what he wants as what he doesn't want, Nick spins a globe and winds up in Uganda just as a coup has taken place. The director again lets us know quickly what this young Scot's about; Nick has a hard time keeping his hands off the ladies, as he jumps right into the sack with a flirtatious fellow bus traveler before he arrives at the village where he is to assist the resident doctor.
A nicely slimmed down and understated Gillian Anderson, sporting a decent British accent, portrays the doctor's beautiful and under-appreciated wife. She picks up Nick from the bus stop and ferries him to his post through an eerie night road scape full of ghostly Ugandans wandering in the truck's headlights.
Nick enjoys some aspects of his new gig: playing soccer with the kids, vaccinating little ones against the diseases that ravage the land, and yes, eyeing the doctor's wife.
His seduction attempt nearly succeeds; Anderson smartly portrays a good woman whose need to be bad is only slightly weaker than her desire to be noble. Still in turmoil, they attend a rally nearby where Idi Amin is addressing his new constituents. Charismatic and rabble-rousing, Forest Whitaker convincingly portrays the first of many facets of Amin that will be revealed throughout the course of this film.
It would be a disservice to the viewer who has not yet seen this thick, affecting film to describe the plot in any more detail, but suffice it to say that a fortuitous encounter with the dictator soon leads to Nick away from his boredom, good works and untasted forbidden fruit of the countryside village to the inner circle of the charming, terrifying and possibly insane bully Amin.
The aimlessness of Nick's life begins to come clear for him as he gets deeper and deeper into the moral quagmire of being chief adviser and personal physician to the man who was ultimately responsible for the 300,000 deaths of those who opposed him within Uganda.
The ending, after a build-up nearly as hallucinatory and overwhelming as "Apocalypse Now", comes down during the Entebbe hijacking and hostage crisis of 1976.
Nick's journey is told without a misstep and an epic, significant air hangs over this grainy, you-are-there photography. And the impact of casual violence and its affect on the value of human life has rarely been portrayed with more vividness than in this film. Nothing done by a Freddy or a Jason can match the atrocities visited upon those on the wrong side of Amin's politics, paranoia or temper.
For the squeamish, this is a harrowing ride.
The soundtrack throbs with African popular music of the time (think Fela Kuti, with less improv and more melody) and the sense of time and place is utterly convincing.
As well made as this film is, it is still the cake that the icing of the actors decorates. Forest Whitaker gives what is without a doubt the performance of his career in Idi Amin. And Oscar nomination, if not an outright win, is a certainty if there is any justice in this world. And James McAvoy's callow Nicholas grows in heft and morality before our eyes. At first, he enjoys the opulence and easy living of being among Amin's inner circle, but, as he continues to dally with the wrong ladies and mock the covert operatives from England that approach him, an actual person with inner strength appears. And though his answer to all this is to run away, the impediments placed in his path teach him a thing or two about being a human being. MacAvoy deserves plentiful praise for bringing this pleasure-seeking young doctor to life, then shepherding him through these changes believably before our eyes.
Great Acting! and Gillian Anderson!
3xHCCH24 February 2007
I like movies based on real people in history. Because of the Oscar buzz surrounding Forest Whitaker now, I knew this movie is about Idi Amin. This is of course a familiar name in my childhood (asked in General Information contests), but I don't really know much about him, except that he was a dictator.
This film has a documentary feel to it. It is really very realistic, even if upon reading background info that the Dr. Garrigan character is fictional. Even though granted that the Idi Amin regime was compressed into a coherent Hollywood storyline, it does not feel contrived. The final sequence of events at the Entebbe Airport was very suspenseful indeed.
Idi Amin was not really the lead character in this movie. It is actually Dr. Nicholas Garrigan. Being a physician, I could not help but be able to identify with his situation and dilemmas. Would you accept to be the personal physician of a country's president upon his personal request? It seems to be an offer and career opportunity you could not refuse.
There is sex and violence in this movie. I could not agree though with Dr. Garrigan's rashness regarding his love affairs, particularly his morals of hooking up with wives of his supposed friends. But considering that this movie is set in the 1970s, that was a totally different world pre-HIV. The violence, what can I say? After watching one violent film after the other, you get sort of anesthetized already. That said, the scene with hooks at the airport was still something else! The acting is very good. Forest Whitaker has channeled the Idi Amin persona very effectively. I could feel the scary and suffocating craziness whenever he is on screen. There's something about this performance being based on a real character though. I think it would be harder to essay a totally fictional character since you have to create this new character from scratch. And I feel James McAvoy (who was actually Mr. Tumnus in "Narnia"!) did so very well as Dr. Garrigan. You dislike him, yet you can empathize the stickiness of his situation.
Before I end this review, I have to mention that I was very happy to see the luminous Ms. Gillian Anderson again. I totally did not know she was in this film and it was a welcome surprise. She handled her few scenes as the wife of a volunteer doctor very well indeed. I hope she gets meatier movie roles in the future.
This film has a documentary feel to it. It is really very realistic, even if upon reading background info that the Dr. Garrigan character is fictional. Even though granted that the Idi Amin regime was compressed into a coherent Hollywood storyline, it does not feel contrived. The final sequence of events at the Entebbe Airport was very suspenseful indeed.
Idi Amin was not really the lead character in this movie. It is actually Dr. Nicholas Garrigan. Being a physician, I could not help but be able to identify with his situation and dilemmas. Would you accept to be the personal physician of a country's president upon his personal request? It seems to be an offer and career opportunity you could not refuse.
There is sex and violence in this movie. I could not agree though with Dr. Garrigan's rashness regarding his love affairs, particularly his morals of hooking up with wives of his supposed friends. But considering that this movie is set in the 1970s, that was a totally different world pre-HIV. The violence, what can I say? After watching one violent film after the other, you get sort of anesthetized already. That said, the scene with hooks at the airport was still something else! The acting is very good. Forest Whitaker has channeled the Idi Amin persona very effectively. I could feel the scary and suffocating craziness whenever he is on screen. There's something about this performance being based on a real character though. I think it would be harder to essay a totally fictional character since you have to create this new character from scratch. And I feel James McAvoy (who was actually Mr. Tumnus in "Narnia"!) did so very well as Dr. Garrigan. You dislike him, yet you can empathize the stickiness of his situation.
Before I end this review, I have to mention that I was very happy to see the luminous Ms. Gillian Anderson again. I totally did not know she was in this film and it was a welcome surprise. She handled her few scenes as the wife of a volunteer doctor very well indeed. I hope she gets meatier movie roles in the future.
The use of Garrigan is a strength and weakness but it is a good film thanks mainly to a terrific turn from Whitaker
bob the moo17 February 2007
The newly qualified Dr Nicholas Garrigan travels to Uganda to take up a post with a village mission. He arrives just after a coup puts Idi Amin in power of the country. During a visit by Amim to the village, Garrigan captures the President's attention by tending to a small injury to his hand and showing himself decisive and strong-willed. It is not long before the young Garrigan finds himself appointed as physician to the President and ensconced as one of his "closest advisors". However the initial charm shown by Amin gives way to a darker violent streak as Garrigan finds the superficial stability of the country and its leader is nothing of the sort.
Famous now for the performance that will deservedly win an Oscar in a few weeks time, this film actually doesn't have Amin as the "main" character despite him being the draw and the title character. Instead we actually spend a lot of time with Garrigan, his experiences and his problems. Of course I understand why this was the way because Garrigan is out narrative device a composite character who acts as our way into the inner circle of Amin and allows the audience to experience him as outsiders as well. This works well in doing this but it does also introduce problems, or at least one problem. This is the fact that, as the story goes on, we find ourselves more and more focused on Garrigan (who doesn't actually exist) rather than Amin or Uganda (who did and does exist respectively). I found this a bit irritating as it got worse because I had come to the film for Amin as, I suspect, many will have done.
Even with this though the film still works well and makes for an engaging piece. Macdonald's direction is good and his moving camera does give it the air of a documentary while still very much being a drama. Of course the thing that makes the film work is the central performance from Whitaker. The character of Amin allows him to play to his strengths and he delivers a convincingly unhinged turn, constantly menacing but also managing to have a child-like sense of fun at times and a terrifying tendency towards ruthlessness and violence. I have said before, he was brilliant in The Shield (making the whole season his own) and he is equally brilliant here. Alongside this it is no surprise that McAvoy is a bit weak by comparison. His character is not so convincing (a side effect of being a composite) and some of the narrative turns ask a lot of him he is still good and it is not his fault that he is in Whitaker's shadow. Washington has a small role but was pretty good in it even if her presence made me wonder why they felt they had to cast an American actress, likewise Anderson but I assume that they helped get funding so fair enough. McBurney is a bit too slimy and sinister and I wasn't sure what the film was trying to say. Audiences may also recognise Oyelowo from his recent high-profile roles in HBO's Five Days and BBC's controversial Shoot The Messenger.
Overall then not a perfect film but a pretty good one. The use of Garrigan is good at getting us into the story but it is a weakness that we stick with him as the focus. The performances are roundly good but of course it is another terrific turn from Whitaker that makes every scene he is in worth seeing.
Famous now for the performance that will deservedly win an Oscar in a few weeks time, this film actually doesn't have Amin as the "main" character despite him being the draw and the title character. Instead we actually spend a lot of time with Garrigan, his experiences and his problems. Of course I understand why this was the way because Garrigan is out narrative device a composite character who acts as our way into the inner circle of Amin and allows the audience to experience him as outsiders as well. This works well in doing this but it does also introduce problems, or at least one problem. This is the fact that, as the story goes on, we find ourselves more and more focused on Garrigan (who doesn't actually exist) rather than Amin or Uganda (who did and does exist respectively). I found this a bit irritating as it got worse because I had come to the film for Amin as, I suspect, many will have done.
Even with this though the film still works well and makes for an engaging piece. Macdonald's direction is good and his moving camera does give it the air of a documentary while still very much being a drama. Of course the thing that makes the film work is the central performance from Whitaker. The character of Amin allows him to play to his strengths and he delivers a convincingly unhinged turn, constantly menacing but also managing to have a child-like sense of fun at times and a terrifying tendency towards ruthlessness and violence. I have said before, he was brilliant in The Shield (making the whole season his own) and he is equally brilliant here. Alongside this it is no surprise that McAvoy is a bit weak by comparison. His character is not so convincing (a side effect of being a composite) and some of the narrative turns ask a lot of him he is still good and it is not his fault that he is in Whitaker's shadow. Washington has a small role but was pretty good in it even if her presence made me wonder why they felt they had to cast an American actress, likewise Anderson but I assume that they helped get funding so fair enough. McBurney is a bit too slimy and sinister and I wasn't sure what the film was trying to say. Audiences may also recognise Oyelowo from his recent high-profile roles in HBO's Five Days and BBC's controversial Shoot The Messenger.
Overall then not a perfect film but a pretty good one. The use of Garrigan is good at getting us into the story but it is a weakness that we stick with him as the focus. The performances are roundly good but of course it is another terrific turn from Whitaker that makes every scene he is in worth seeing.
Oscar is written all over it
YNOT_at_the_Movies26 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
A freshly graduated young doctor Nicolas from Scotland went to Uganda in 1970s hoping that he could offer his helping hands to the Ugandan people. Instead of serving the poor and needed, he met the charismatic Uganda dictator Idi Amin and his life is forever changed.
I didn't know anything about Idi Amin before the film, but I know a great deal about him after the film. He is charismatic yet brutal. I can see myself to become his friend when I first meet him and then realize that he can be the worst monster in my life and I want to escape far away from him. Idi Amin's character is so lively and fascinating in this film, through the terrific performance by Forest Whitaker.
I know it's just the beginning of the Oscar season, but Forest Whitaker definitely gives an Oscar worthy performance in this film as Idi Amin.
It's such a gripping film that keeps me on the edge of my seat all the time.
The performance is outstanding, the cinematography is breathtaking, the story is compelling, the music is deeply moving, and the film is simply fantastic.
And the Oscar is written all over it.
Yes, I am giving it a rare 10 out of 10.
I didn't know anything about Idi Amin before the film, but I know a great deal about him after the film. He is charismatic yet brutal. I can see myself to become his friend when I first meet him and then realize that he can be the worst monster in my life and I want to escape far away from him. Idi Amin's character is so lively and fascinating in this film, through the terrific performance by Forest Whitaker.
I know it's just the beginning of the Oscar season, but Forest Whitaker definitely gives an Oscar worthy performance in this film as Idi Amin.
It's such a gripping film that keeps me on the edge of my seat all the time.
The performance is outstanding, the cinematography is breathtaking, the story is compelling, the music is deeply moving, and the film is simply fantastic.
And the Oscar is written all over it.
Yes, I am giving it a rare 10 out of 10.
At the court of King Kong
Philby-318 February 2007
Giles Foden, who wrote the novel in which this film is based, spent his formative years in Malawi, the president of which at the time was another sinister African dictator, Dr Hastings Banda (who, oddly enough was once a GP in Glasgow). In the book, however, he looks at a far more colourful figure, Field Marshall Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC etc, president for life of Uganda, from the point of view of a young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan, who is plucked from a remote mission hospital to be Amin's personal physician and adviser.
There is some factual basis for this in that Amin did at one time have a Scottish doctor and he also had as a close adviser a former British army officer, Bob Astle (who Foden interviewed living in retirement in Wimbledon) but essentially we are looking at fiction, based on the premise what would it have been like to have been a young, impressionable, rather feckless and sexually adventurous doctor working for Idi Amin.
At first, being at Amin's court is a pretty heady experience for young Nicholas (who as played by the elfin James McAvoy with early 70s long hair seems to be a teenager). Beguiled by Amin's hearty manner and flattered by his attention it's almost too late before Nicholas sees the dark side. He is reckless enough to sleep with one of Amin's wives, not realizing that Amins's spooks are onto him. The climax, during the Entebbe hostage crisis, is bloody and gripping.
Forrest Whittaker had a difficult job playing Amin; because Amin was given so much air time by the media when he was in power he is a very familiar figure. Yet Forrest gives us the core of the man, bluff, hearty, childlike (and hence really scary, as Nicholas observes), given to rages, absolutely ruthless, and as time rolls on, increasingly paranoid. It's a wonderful performance and has to be a strong Oscar contender, though perhaps not the certainty Phillip S Hoffman was for "Capote" last year. James McAvoy's extremely youthful looks don't help, but he manages to develop his character so that the feckless youth does seem to develop into a more thoughtful and responsible person. There were also several good minor performances such as Kay Washington as Kay Amin, Abby Mukiibi as Masanga, Amin's taciturn security chief, and especially Simon McBurney as Stone the British spook, who sees Nicholas as a ready-made British agent. Unfortunately Nicholas is Scottish and does not take kindly to Stone's superior English manner.
Kevin Campbell the director is best known for his documentaries, particularly his mountaineering saga "Touching the Void". Here he filmed in Uganda, which helps authenticity, but he has also produced an interesting story. Amin is superficially charming, but thrust into power he becomes a monster. Nicholas can't initially resist the charm, but comes to realize he's dead if he doesn't. Nicholas is not the nicest of young men, but in the end we don't want to see him as a victim.
Uganda has had a rocky time since Amin was deposed (the old monster died in exile in Saudi Arabia in 2003), but despite AIDS and a nasty insurgency now has some semblance of law and order and modest economic growth. Hopefully it will never have another Amin, who came close to destroying his country, despite his entertaining manner.
There is some factual basis for this in that Amin did at one time have a Scottish doctor and he also had as a close adviser a former British army officer, Bob Astle (who Foden interviewed living in retirement in Wimbledon) but essentially we are looking at fiction, based on the premise what would it have been like to have been a young, impressionable, rather feckless and sexually adventurous doctor working for Idi Amin.
At first, being at Amin's court is a pretty heady experience for young Nicholas (who as played by the elfin James McAvoy with early 70s long hair seems to be a teenager). Beguiled by Amin's hearty manner and flattered by his attention it's almost too late before Nicholas sees the dark side. He is reckless enough to sleep with one of Amin's wives, not realizing that Amins's spooks are onto him. The climax, during the Entebbe hostage crisis, is bloody and gripping.
Forrest Whittaker had a difficult job playing Amin; because Amin was given so much air time by the media when he was in power he is a very familiar figure. Yet Forrest gives us the core of the man, bluff, hearty, childlike (and hence really scary, as Nicholas observes), given to rages, absolutely ruthless, and as time rolls on, increasingly paranoid. It's a wonderful performance and has to be a strong Oscar contender, though perhaps not the certainty Phillip S Hoffman was for "Capote" last year. James McAvoy's extremely youthful looks don't help, but he manages to develop his character so that the feckless youth does seem to develop into a more thoughtful and responsible person. There were also several good minor performances such as Kay Washington as Kay Amin, Abby Mukiibi as Masanga, Amin's taciturn security chief, and especially Simon McBurney as Stone the British spook, who sees Nicholas as a ready-made British agent. Unfortunately Nicholas is Scottish and does not take kindly to Stone's superior English manner.
Kevin Campbell the director is best known for his documentaries, particularly his mountaineering saga "Touching the Void". Here he filmed in Uganda, which helps authenticity, but he has also produced an interesting story. Amin is superficially charming, but thrust into power he becomes a monster. Nicholas can't initially resist the charm, but comes to realize he's dead if he doesn't. Nicholas is not the nicest of young men, but in the end we don't want to see him as a victim.
Uganda has had a rocky time since Amin was deposed (the old monster died in exile in Saudi Arabia in 2003), but despite AIDS and a nasty insurgency now has some semblance of law and order and modest economic growth. Hopefully it will never have another Amin, who came close to destroying his country, despite his entertaining manner.
Why mess with history?
antoniofalcao22 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This film can be judged from three viewpoints: as history, as a profile of Amin, as a fictional thriller.
It fails as history, it mentions in passing the coup that threw out Obote, the expulsion of the Asians, and has the Entebbe hi-jack as background, but not in any chronologically consistent time frame.
As a profile of Amin it may have been interesting, because Forest Whitaker is incredibly good, and if this was a better film, he would get an Oscar. (He got it - which proves the Oscar voters don't watch the films they vote on.) It ignores relevant historical episodes in the novel, which observed Amin and the history of Uganda from the point of view of the doctor. It tells instead the fictitious story of the Scots doctor and his impossible love life from the point of view of Amin. But the story told is the one incident that Amin was probably innocent of.
As a fictional thriller, there is no plot to hold it together. The beginning is taut - it takes cinematic liberties with the novel, but sets up the story. The character of the doctor is well-defined, but becomes lost in the second half of the film which suffers as a result.
Why the doctor decides to stay in Kampala is badly explained - seduced by power? Why he befriends no-one is strange. The character of the friend in the novel has been lost because the Scotsman has the affair instead of the black doctor - a ludicrous entanglement which does not seem even faintly believable, but allows the writers of the film to show the ferocity of Amin close at hand. The Man called Horse bit at the end is risible.
Finally in 1971, Uganda drove on the left, not right, the number plates were three letters and two or three numbers - and where are the Equator tusks?!
In short - if you've never heard of Amin, you may want to spend two hours watching this film to appreciate Forest Whitaker's acting, but the last hour will bore you to confusion. If you know Uganda or have read the book - don't see the film - it will only depress you. And if you want to know why the doctor was so foolhardy - he wasn't.
It fails as history, it mentions in passing the coup that threw out Obote, the expulsion of the Asians, and has the Entebbe hi-jack as background, but not in any chronologically consistent time frame.
As a profile of Amin it may have been interesting, because Forest Whitaker is incredibly good, and if this was a better film, he would get an Oscar. (He got it - which proves the Oscar voters don't watch the films they vote on.) It ignores relevant historical episodes in the novel, which observed Amin and the history of Uganda from the point of view of the doctor. It tells instead the fictitious story of the Scots doctor and his impossible love life from the point of view of Amin. But the story told is the one incident that Amin was probably innocent of.
As a fictional thriller, there is no plot to hold it together. The beginning is taut - it takes cinematic liberties with the novel, but sets up the story. The character of the doctor is well-defined, but becomes lost in the second half of the film which suffers as a result.
Why the doctor decides to stay in Kampala is badly explained - seduced by power? Why he befriends no-one is strange. The character of the friend in the novel has been lost because the Scotsman has the affair instead of the black doctor - a ludicrous entanglement which does not seem even faintly believable, but allows the writers of the film to show the ferocity of Amin close at hand. The Man called Horse bit at the end is risible.
Finally in 1971, Uganda drove on the left, not right, the number plates were three letters and two or three numbers - and where are the Equator tusks?!
In short - if you've never heard of Amin, you may want to spend two hours watching this film to appreciate Forest Whitaker's acting, but the last hour will bore you to confusion. If you know Uganda or have read the book - don't see the film - it will only depress you. And if you want to know why the doctor was so foolhardy - he wasn't.
A fascinating blending of fiction with history
ikanboy3 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
A young Scottish Doctor flees his repressive home to go to Uganda. Now that's an oxymoron if ever I've heard one! Once there he joins a mission and ministers to the locals. He tries to fit in to the Christian role but temptation has thrown him a curve. The missionary's wife is a blond tressed, and quite sumptuous Gillian Anderson - with a bang on British accent and demeanor. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for my fantasy life, she hesitatingly demurs. At this point Idi Amin happens to be in the neighborhood and takes a fancy to our young Doctor (completely ignoring Gillian, which tells us right off the bat that the man's not normal), for having the chutzpah to brazenly use Amin's pistol to kill a cow, mortally wounded by Amin's limousine.
Our young naive, hedonist decides to take up Amin's offer to be his personal Doctor, and soon finds himself up to his elbows in African Alligators, namely your usual Dictatorial musical chairs.
The character of the young Scot is pure fiction, but in the Uganda of that day, a quite likely one. He slowly realizes that his boss is a sociopath, but he is also a prisoner, knowing that to displease him is a tad risky. Still he is a headstrong youth, and continues to confront Amin when he sees fit to. Then he steps over the edge and does something totally suicidal: he sleeps with one of Amin's wives.
The movie ends with the Entebbe hijacking of an Air France Plane full of Jews coming from Israel. Our hero uses the moment to escape - Uganda and certain death.
Whittaker is great. Playing sociopaths is every actors dream, as you get to be so mercurially evil, and he milks it for all it's worth. But he's never over the top, or campy, or unbelievable. He plays Amin as the jolly genocidal maniac that he was, and, thank God, keeps away from more than a nod at his being a Muslim. Whittaker will win the Oscar. I also predict that if they ever have a movie about Saddam Hussein, that actor will also win an Oscar
Our young naive, hedonist decides to take up Amin's offer to be his personal Doctor, and soon finds himself up to his elbows in African Alligators, namely your usual Dictatorial musical chairs.
The character of the young Scot is pure fiction, but in the Uganda of that day, a quite likely one. He slowly realizes that his boss is a sociopath, but he is also a prisoner, knowing that to displease him is a tad risky. Still he is a headstrong youth, and continues to confront Amin when he sees fit to. Then he steps over the edge and does something totally suicidal: he sleeps with one of Amin's wives.
The movie ends with the Entebbe hijacking of an Air France Plane full of Jews coming from Israel. Our hero uses the moment to escape - Uganda and certain death.
Whittaker is great. Playing sociopaths is every actors dream, as you get to be so mercurially evil, and he milks it for all it's worth. But he's never over the top, or campy, or unbelievable. He plays Amin as the jolly genocidal maniac that he was, and, thank God, keeps away from more than a nod at his being a Muslim. Whittaker will win the Oscar. I also predict that if they ever have a movie about Saddam Hussein, that actor will also win an Oscar
A much scarier horror film than most horror films
fertilecelluloid19 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Kevin Macdonald, whose background is in documentary, has made a stunning piece of work with "The Last King of Scotland". A junior doctor (James McAvoy) from Scotland goes to Uganda just after Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker) coup and becomes personally embroiled in the dictator's insanity. The title refers to Amin's documented love of Scotland and personal joke that he did such a good job getting rid of the British in Uganda that Scotland considered him for the same job.
Stylistically similar to Oliver Stone's "Salvador", this is a lightning-paced political thriller buoyed by Oscar-worthy performances from McAvoy and Whitaker. Script, by Jeremy Brock, Peter Morgan and Joe Penhall, from a novel by Giles Foden, is a model of economy and manages to juggle a huge number of inflammatory elements without ever dropping the ball. Quite explicit in parts and shot with extraordinary clarity and invention by Anthony Dod Mantle, there have been so few great films like this recently that this stands out as a beacon of hope.
As a film that deals with genocide, torture, murky politics and insanity, it pulls no punches and rockets towards an explosive climax featuring the Entebbe hostage drama. It ends exactly where it should and leaves us breathless (having ripped us from a nightmare more real than fiction).
It's a much scarier horror film than most horror films.
Stylistically similar to Oliver Stone's "Salvador", this is a lightning-paced political thriller buoyed by Oscar-worthy performances from McAvoy and Whitaker. Script, by Jeremy Brock, Peter Morgan and Joe Penhall, from a novel by Giles Foden, is a model of economy and manages to juggle a huge number of inflammatory elements without ever dropping the ball. Quite explicit in parts and shot with extraordinary clarity and invention by Anthony Dod Mantle, there have been so few great films like this recently that this stands out as a beacon of hope.
As a film that deals with genocide, torture, murky politics and insanity, it pulls no punches and rockets towards an explosive climax featuring the Entebbe hostage drama. It ends exactly where it should and leaves us breathless (having ripped us from a nightmare more real than fiction).
It's a much scarier horror film than most horror films.
Another example of Hollywood's unwillingness to give us actual truth! Instead, they sensationalize for effect!
Rvrgm10 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Before I begin, I want to briefly say that this movie in and of itself is very well made and well acted by all involved, including Whittaker, who indeed deserves his nomination. It is highly entertaining, and . . . taken in the right context as a work of FICTION, it is a very good movie. For that, I give it the two stars.
However, rather than wasting your time with what you can read a hundred times elsewhere, I want instead to point out the absolute fictional nature of this film and how dangerous it is to sell people a work of fiction as if it is truth. I stress that this film nowhere in the credits lets us know that the main character, Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, is a complete invention of fiction. Rather, it presents this character into a real historical setting, and allows the uninformed viewer to assume he was in fact real, and what they are seeing is the truth. I have no problem with the blending of fact and fiction - but to do so in such a dishonest matter is, in a word, reprehensible.
There can be no doubt that Africa, along with most Third World Countries is rife with human misery and suffering. Hollywood has long attempted to capture the suffering of people in these countries on film. But Hollywood also has its eye toward making money. The only true way to capture the suffering that seems to happen everywhere but the West is to either experience it for yourself, or to at least have it captured in an honest documentary.
But these depictions of fictional characters in real historical settings can only do so much. At the end of the day, they become less about presenting the facts for the viewer to decide for himself, and more about leading you from image to image and hitting you over the head screaming, "SEE, WE TOLD YOU IT WAS BAD!" The seminal example of this can be found by anyone willing to watch the documentary on the DVD after sitting through the movie. Arguably the most shocking image of the film is the viewing of the body of Kay Amin, Idi's second wife, whom he killed when he discovered her infidelity. In the film, we see that her limbs have been severed and reattached in reverse (arms for legs and vice-versa). This is the director making sure you understand that Amin is, as the Gungans say, Bom-bad! But watching the documentary, we learn that this is in fact nothing more than a myth, which the sitting Minister of Health at the time himself tells us is not true.
So . . . what . . . they just MAKE UP these things? Why? Because Hollywood has a low opinion of our intelligence, that's why! They don't trust us to come to the right conclusion ourselves. Look, that she was murdered and dismembered is in itself enough for us to conclude that Amin was not the likable guy he portrayed to the media - we don't need this Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE inspired imagery to reinforce that! And this is just the tip of the iceberg. What is also not explained to the casual viewer is that lead character Garrigan is himself fictional. There was no young Scottish doctor taken under Amin's wing. As such, Garrigan is clearly present only for the sake of helping us dumb Westerners understand the African world. The producers seem to thing we won't be interested in a film about Africa unless there is a white face in it. (Ironically, even the titular character is portrayed by an American black actor!) The problem with this is that the movie is no longer an expose of Amin and his regime, but instead an exploitative thriller about a white Westerner coming to Africa for all the wrong reasons, making several horrible mistakes, and then "redeeming" himself, even at the cost of three other innocent lives. Honestly, I have to say it is nearly reprehensible to suggest that the real tragic death of Mrs. Amin was the result of a tryst with a fictional Scottish doctor - it almost seems to become a morbid joke for the sake of entertainment! I really wish Hollywood would stop jerking us around for our money. I first realized its propensity to do this with the woefully manipulative A BEAUTIFUL MIND, Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman's sugary-sweet adaptation of the life of John Nash, which deleted the darker side of the man to present only the tortured hero that America just can't get enough of. The sad truth is that Hollywood has been selling us these fakes for years, and viewers, who are predictably and understandably too lazy or uncaring to investigate for themselves, buy these fake portraits hook, line, and sinker.
Look, I'm certainly not suggesting Amin is being turned into a villain he wasn't. My point is, with the truth being so shocking enough to convince us of the brutality of the man, why must Hollywood then go to such fictional lengths? Why must Hollywood continue to insult us by holding our hands through these films? Why can they not trust us to think for ourselves!? Can we not just put the honest portrayals on screen and let the audience decide for themselves? I urge all who continue to watch Hollywood's purportedly "true" movies to do yourself the favor of ALWAYS investigating for yourself, and to NEVER assume that what is on screen is even close to the truth!
However, rather than wasting your time with what you can read a hundred times elsewhere, I want instead to point out the absolute fictional nature of this film and how dangerous it is to sell people a work of fiction as if it is truth. I stress that this film nowhere in the credits lets us know that the main character, Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, is a complete invention of fiction. Rather, it presents this character into a real historical setting, and allows the uninformed viewer to assume he was in fact real, and what they are seeing is the truth. I have no problem with the blending of fact and fiction - but to do so in such a dishonest matter is, in a word, reprehensible.
There can be no doubt that Africa, along with most Third World Countries is rife with human misery and suffering. Hollywood has long attempted to capture the suffering of people in these countries on film. But Hollywood also has its eye toward making money. The only true way to capture the suffering that seems to happen everywhere but the West is to either experience it for yourself, or to at least have it captured in an honest documentary.
But these depictions of fictional characters in real historical settings can only do so much. At the end of the day, they become less about presenting the facts for the viewer to decide for himself, and more about leading you from image to image and hitting you over the head screaming, "SEE, WE TOLD YOU IT WAS BAD!" The seminal example of this can be found by anyone willing to watch the documentary on the DVD after sitting through the movie. Arguably the most shocking image of the film is the viewing of the body of Kay Amin, Idi's second wife, whom he killed when he discovered her infidelity. In the film, we see that her limbs have been severed and reattached in reverse (arms for legs and vice-versa). This is the director making sure you understand that Amin is, as the Gungans say, Bom-bad! But watching the documentary, we learn that this is in fact nothing more than a myth, which the sitting Minister of Health at the time himself tells us is not true.
So . . . what . . . they just MAKE UP these things? Why? Because Hollywood has a low opinion of our intelligence, that's why! They don't trust us to come to the right conclusion ourselves. Look, that she was murdered and dismembered is in itself enough for us to conclude that Amin was not the likable guy he portrayed to the media - we don't need this Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE inspired imagery to reinforce that! And this is just the tip of the iceberg. What is also not explained to the casual viewer is that lead character Garrigan is himself fictional. There was no young Scottish doctor taken under Amin's wing. As such, Garrigan is clearly present only for the sake of helping us dumb Westerners understand the African world. The producers seem to thing we won't be interested in a film about Africa unless there is a white face in it. (Ironically, even the titular character is portrayed by an American black actor!) The problem with this is that the movie is no longer an expose of Amin and his regime, but instead an exploitative thriller about a white Westerner coming to Africa for all the wrong reasons, making several horrible mistakes, and then "redeeming" himself, even at the cost of three other innocent lives. Honestly, I have to say it is nearly reprehensible to suggest that the real tragic death of Mrs. Amin was the result of a tryst with a fictional Scottish doctor - it almost seems to become a morbid joke for the sake of entertainment! I really wish Hollywood would stop jerking us around for our money. I first realized its propensity to do this with the woefully manipulative A BEAUTIFUL MIND, Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman's sugary-sweet adaptation of the life of John Nash, which deleted the darker side of the man to present only the tortured hero that America just can't get enough of. The sad truth is that Hollywood has been selling us these fakes for years, and viewers, who are predictably and understandably too lazy or uncaring to investigate for themselves, buy these fake portraits hook, line, and sinker.
Look, I'm certainly not suggesting Amin is being turned into a villain he wasn't. My point is, with the truth being so shocking enough to convince us of the brutality of the man, why must Hollywood then go to such fictional lengths? Why must Hollywood continue to insult us by holding our hands through these films? Why can they not trust us to think for ourselves!? Can we not just put the honest portrayals on screen and let the audience decide for themselves? I urge all who continue to watch Hollywood's purportedly "true" movies to do yourself the favor of ALWAYS investigating for yourself, and to NEVER assume that what is on screen is even close to the truth!
The Doctor and the Dictator
JamesHitchcock24 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
The twentieth century deserves to be remembered by future historians as the Age of the Dictator, but despite the prominent role that dictators played in history, they have not been much in evidence in the cinema. There have been many films about dictatorships, but these have not always focused on the men who led those regimes. Pol Pot, for example, does not appear in "The Killing Fields", nor Galtieri in "La Historia Oficial". Even Adolf Hitler is only a partial exception. Although he has been memorably impersonated on screen by a number of actors from Charlie Chaplin to Bruno Ganz, films about him are less common than one might expect, given that he is the man who has replaced the Devil as our supreme symbol of evil. George C Scott gave a fine impersonation of Mussolini, but this was in a TV series, not a film.
The cinema's lack of interest in dictators is not entirely due to morality- Hollywood has always been happy to make films about fictional villains, or even real-life ones who did not also hold the position of Head of State. A large part of the reason is that many dictators exemplified what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil". The cold, reserved General Franco bore little resemblance to the idea of the dictator as carpet-chewing maniac. Augusto Pinochet was once described as having the appearance and demeanour of a suburban bank manager. Leonid Brezhnev ruled the world's largest country for nearly two decades ( a period later described as "The Age of Stagnation") but was rarely seen, either in Russia or the West, as anything more than a soulless bureaucrat.
There was, however, nothing banal about Idi Amin, who fascinated the Western media during his time in power. He was noted for his eccentricities, such as awarding himself the Victoria Cross, and the media treated him as a licensed buffoon, which obscured the horrendous nature of his crimes. It has been estimated that during his time in power some 300,000 people were murdered (one hundred times the death toll attributed to his contemporary Pinochet, who at the time was far more widely reviled).
The protagonist of this film (I advisedly do not use the word hero) is Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who, inspired more by desire for adventure than by idealism, takes a position working in a medical mission in Uganda. (The alternative, working as a family GP in his father's practice, does not appeal to him). A chance meeting with Amin leads to his being offered the post of personal physician to the President. The main reason for Amin's choice seems to be that Garrigan is a Scot; the dictator had a fascination for all things Scottish, including wearing a kilt and (despite his Muslim religion) drinking whisky. The title of the film derives from the fact that he even offered his services as King Idi I of Scotland, an offer which the Scots, for some reason, declined.
A strange friendship grows up between the doctor and the dictator, and Garrigan soon finds that he is being treated as Amin's confidant and adviser as well as physician. As portrayed by James McAvoy, Garrigan is in many ways an unattractive character- flattered at being singled out for attention by a powerful man, blinded by a credulous belief in Amin's good intentions and eager for the luxurious lifestyle which his position bestows upon him, he turns a blind eye to the mounting evidence of the atrocities being committed by the regime. His only excuse is that he is young and naive. He is also a casual philanderer; in the course of the film he seduces a Ugandan girl he meets on a bus, Sarah, the neglected wife of the mission director and (incredibly) Kay, one of Amin's three wives. To cuckold one's employer is never a good career move; to do it to a man as unpredictable as Amin is a positively bad one, as Nicholas soon finds out.
Apart from McAvoy, there are also good performances from Gillian Anderson as Sarah, David Oyewolo as the brave and principled Ugandan doctor Junju (the one man in the film who can be described as a hero) and from Simon McBurney as the callous and hypocritical British diplomat Nigel Stone. (There is an implication- which may be justified- that the British Government initially supported Amin's seizure of power, seeing him as more pro-Western than his predecessor Milton Obote, and then turned against him, not because he was a tyrant but because he proved to be less malleable than they had hoped).
The film, however, is dominated by Forest Whitaker, who well deserves his Oscar nomination. I have been an admirer of his ever since "The Crying Game" (a film I did not otherwise much care for), and here he is superb as Amin. Whitaker avoids the mistake of trying to make his character purely evil. Amin initially enjoyed considerable support from Ugandans sickened by the corrupt regime of Obote, the sort of Socialist who believed in the redistribution of wealth, chiefly into his own bank account. The dictator we see in the early scenes is a great bear of a man, shrewd, jovial and with a good deal of personal charm and a well-developed, if occasionally childish, sense of humour. Whitaker's interpretation leaves open the possibility that Amin was a sincere man corrupted by the temptations of power and that Garrigan's naive trust was not altogether misplaced. It is precisely because Whitaker's Amin initially appears so affable that the raging, half-mad figure we see at the end of the film is so frightening. An unpredictable man can be more dangerous than one who is predictably wicked. The film works well as a study of the politics of dictatorship and of the relationship between two very different men. 8/10
The cinema's lack of interest in dictators is not entirely due to morality- Hollywood has always been happy to make films about fictional villains, or even real-life ones who did not also hold the position of Head of State. A large part of the reason is that many dictators exemplified what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil". The cold, reserved General Franco bore little resemblance to the idea of the dictator as carpet-chewing maniac. Augusto Pinochet was once described as having the appearance and demeanour of a suburban bank manager. Leonid Brezhnev ruled the world's largest country for nearly two decades ( a period later described as "The Age of Stagnation") but was rarely seen, either in Russia or the West, as anything more than a soulless bureaucrat.
There was, however, nothing banal about Idi Amin, who fascinated the Western media during his time in power. He was noted for his eccentricities, such as awarding himself the Victoria Cross, and the media treated him as a licensed buffoon, which obscured the horrendous nature of his crimes. It has been estimated that during his time in power some 300,000 people were murdered (one hundred times the death toll attributed to his contemporary Pinochet, who at the time was far more widely reviled).
The protagonist of this film (I advisedly do not use the word hero) is Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who, inspired more by desire for adventure than by idealism, takes a position working in a medical mission in Uganda. (The alternative, working as a family GP in his father's practice, does not appeal to him). A chance meeting with Amin leads to his being offered the post of personal physician to the President. The main reason for Amin's choice seems to be that Garrigan is a Scot; the dictator had a fascination for all things Scottish, including wearing a kilt and (despite his Muslim religion) drinking whisky. The title of the film derives from the fact that he even offered his services as King Idi I of Scotland, an offer which the Scots, for some reason, declined.
A strange friendship grows up between the doctor and the dictator, and Garrigan soon finds that he is being treated as Amin's confidant and adviser as well as physician. As portrayed by James McAvoy, Garrigan is in many ways an unattractive character- flattered at being singled out for attention by a powerful man, blinded by a credulous belief in Amin's good intentions and eager for the luxurious lifestyle which his position bestows upon him, he turns a blind eye to the mounting evidence of the atrocities being committed by the regime. His only excuse is that he is young and naive. He is also a casual philanderer; in the course of the film he seduces a Ugandan girl he meets on a bus, Sarah, the neglected wife of the mission director and (incredibly) Kay, one of Amin's three wives. To cuckold one's employer is never a good career move; to do it to a man as unpredictable as Amin is a positively bad one, as Nicholas soon finds out.
Apart from McAvoy, there are also good performances from Gillian Anderson as Sarah, David Oyewolo as the brave and principled Ugandan doctor Junju (the one man in the film who can be described as a hero) and from Simon McBurney as the callous and hypocritical British diplomat Nigel Stone. (There is an implication- which may be justified- that the British Government initially supported Amin's seizure of power, seeing him as more pro-Western than his predecessor Milton Obote, and then turned against him, not because he was a tyrant but because he proved to be less malleable than they had hoped).
The film, however, is dominated by Forest Whitaker, who well deserves his Oscar nomination. I have been an admirer of his ever since "The Crying Game" (a film I did not otherwise much care for), and here he is superb as Amin. Whitaker avoids the mistake of trying to make his character purely evil. Amin initially enjoyed considerable support from Ugandans sickened by the corrupt regime of Obote, the sort of Socialist who believed in the redistribution of wealth, chiefly into his own bank account. The dictator we see in the early scenes is a great bear of a man, shrewd, jovial and with a good deal of personal charm and a well-developed, if occasionally childish, sense of humour. Whitaker's interpretation leaves open the possibility that Amin was a sincere man corrupted by the temptations of power and that Garrigan's naive trust was not altogether misplaced. It is precisely because Whitaker's Amin initially appears so affable that the raging, half-mad figure we see at the end of the film is so frightening. An unpredictable man can be more dangerous than one who is predictably wicked. The film works well as a study of the politics of dictatorship and of the relationship between two very different men. 8/10
Absurd.
mockturtle1 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Forest Whitaker's performance is all the more impressive for making it almost worthwhile to sit through this dreck. "Historical fiction" does not justify changing history. The absurdity begins from the ground up with the imaginary lead character played by James McAvoy. To create a fictional observer for the purpose of giving the reader a point of connection in the book is regrettable, regrettable that white people can't just read a book without a white protagonist to connect to, but at least he was placed in a somewhat passive role. Making up a fake historical actor and crediting this fiction with exposing Amin to the world is irresponsible, lazy and stupid. Not making the actions of this creation believable or even sane is just criminal, and has opened the door for movies like the one they're planning to make with Leonardo DiCaprio as a heroic Enron whistleblower who NEVER EXISTED. The logic of the world does not apply in this film where some Scottish kid thinks its okay to sleep with the wife of a murderous dictator. It doesn't apply where the wife of the dictator desires to sleep with some stupid scrawny irresponsible white boy. For that matter EVERYBODY is lined up to sleep with this scrawny, irresponsible, arrogant white boy, he even has Gillian Anderson licking her comely chops.
Let me declare, I do not like James McAvoy. I'm not sure what it is about him, but I thought his Mr. Tumnus in Narnia was creepy and pervy. I think that Kerry Washington would never look twice at him so I can't believe that the wife of a powerful dangerous man like Amin would risk and lose her life for him. I don't believe him as a Doctor, and I just don't see the appeal. His character seems to have far more arrogance than would make sense, and trying to make him look like a badass in shooting the cow was just...there's that word again...absurd. Think about it, you are watching all of these characters bend themselves into knots in order to accommodate this unbelievable main character and there never was such a guy.
Gillian Anderson looks incredible and sounds more British than most Brits. Whitaker gives a great expansive magnetic performance, and highlighted, with his incomprehensible pre-Oscar speeches, just how much he was acting. It's a shame the film around him had no reason to exist.
Let me declare, I do not like James McAvoy. I'm not sure what it is about him, but I thought his Mr. Tumnus in Narnia was creepy and pervy. I think that Kerry Washington would never look twice at him so I can't believe that the wife of a powerful dangerous man like Amin would risk and lose her life for him. I don't believe him as a Doctor, and I just don't see the appeal. His character seems to have far more arrogance than would make sense, and trying to make him look like a badass in shooting the cow was just...there's that word again...absurd. Think about it, you are watching all of these characters bend themselves into knots in order to accommodate this unbelievable main character and there never was such a guy.
Gillian Anderson looks incredible and sounds more British than most Brits. Whitaker gives a great expansive magnetic performance, and highlighted, with his incomprehensible pre-Oscar speeches, just how much he was acting. It's a shame the film around him had no reason to exist.
A superbly directed and acted movie!
simonparker199017 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
2007 has already started off with a magnificent bang in my eyes. Last year, 2006, started with more the after shock of three decent fantasy epics, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and King Kong. 2006 actually didn't really begin with any redeeming movies at all to be honest, however 2007 has got off to a spectacular start. I've so far only seen three movies. Now out of the three The Last King of Scotland is easily the best, however by saying this I realise how much of an understatement this is for this movie. You see The Last King of Scotland is not only better than these other two movies combined, hell its not only better than most of my favourite movies of last year, this movie is easily one of the best movies in absolutely ages! In fact I can only put this on the same level as Pan's Labyrinth as this movie is absolutely spectacular! In fact there has never been an early front runner in my eyes for Film of the Year, however this movie looks very likely to prove everyone different! The Last King of Scotland is an interesting movie following the story of a young man called Nicholas as he is propelled into the bizarre world of Ugandan leader Idi Amin. The movie might not be entirely based on reality, there's some stuff that never occurred, however this movie does still manage to be an absolutely thrilling event and featuring one of the most powerful performances in ages. Forrest Whittaker is absolutely breathtaking as the Ugandan leader, Idi Amin. In fact if he does not win the Best Actor Oscar he will have been brutally robbed. The movies also works because it is a nice blend of thriller, comedy (on the rare occasion) and also complete and utter tragedy. Its a movie bound to please the critics and come Awards time will hopefully reap the benefits. A well crafted and a beautifully acted movie that I now absolutely adore.
The story of The Last King of Scotland follows medical graduate Nicholas Garrigan. He has just qualified med-school and is already sick and tired of his home country, Scotland. So on a spur of the moment thought he decides to go off to the first country his finger lands on when he spins the globe, he doesn't like the sound of Canda so when he tries again he lands on a place called Uganda. On arrival in Uganda the recent government has been overthrown by Idi Amin and his soldier. He fights for the people and so everyone is rejoicing that Amin has risen to power and that he promises new opportunities for Uganda. Nicholas first works in a small medical facility helping the sick of Uganda, however after a chance meeting with Idi Amin he is soon whisked off to Amin's place and is turned into Amin's personal physician. Amin likes Nicholas' straightforwardness, and Nicholas likes Amin's personality. However, after a brief period of time as the pair get along fine the cracks in their relationship start to show. Amin is hiding things up and he seems desperate to keep hold of power. Nicholas meanwhile is being asked to become more than a personal physician and becomes more of an adviser than anything else. As time wears on and Nicholas is no longer allowed to leave Uganda he realises that he has to get home by any means possible.
So then the performances of this movie, obviously they are the movies greatest success. First off is of Forrest Whittaker as Idi Amin. Perhaps what I found most intriguing about the character is the fact that for a large majority of the movie I couldn't help but actually like him. He's such a friendly, larger than life character that you can't help but smile at some of the things that he says. And yet when the man changed he really did change, scenes where he screams at Nicholas become quickly terrifying as you really do not know whether Amin will hug him or pull out a gun and shoot him in the head. Forrest Whittaker delivers and absolutely amazing performance, his seductive, fun loving side in the beginning is pulled off superbly. The nice bit of humour is very welcoming, yet its his amazingly powerful scenes later when he goes towards the nasty side that really do stick in the mind. He should win an Oscar for this role, and this is really one of the best performances in years. The other main cast member, and one that really does deserve almost as much praise is James McAvoy. He's better known as Mr Tumnus from Narnia, however here he really does become much of a serious actor. Here he is absolutely brilliant, of course he is always overshadowed by Amin, but in the scenes where he is on his own he really does shine through. At least enough to hopefully earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting actor.
Overall this movie is absolutely wonderful, it gets the highest rating with the slightest of ease, but its the impact of this movie that really will last on longest. Its a movie that needs to gets the Oscars it so richly deserves and I really do want to see this again as quickly as possible. An early front runner for Best Movie of 2007!
The story of The Last King of Scotland follows medical graduate Nicholas Garrigan. He has just qualified med-school and is already sick and tired of his home country, Scotland. So on a spur of the moment thought he decides to go off to the first country his finger lands on when he spins the globe, he doesn't like the sound of Canda so when he tries again he lands on a place called Uganda. On arrival in Uganda the recent government has been overthrown by Idi Amin and his soldier. He fights for the people and so everyone is rejoicing that Amin has risen to power and that he promises new opportunities for Uganda. Nicholas first works in a small medical facility helping the sick of Uganda, however after a chance meeting with Idi Amin he is soon whisked off to Amin's place and is turned into Amin's personal physician. Amin likes Nicholas' straightforwardness, and Nicholas likes Amin's personality. However, after a brief period of time as the pair get along fine the cracks in their relationship start to show. Amin is hiding things up and he seems desperate to keep hold of power. Nicholas meanwhile is being asked to become more than a personal physician and becomes more of an adviser than anything else. As time wears on and Nicholas is no longer allowed to leave Uganda he realises that he has to get home by any means possible.
So then the performances of this movie, obviously they are the movies greatest success. First off is of Forrest Whittaker as Idi Amin. Perhaps what I found most intriguing about the character is the fact that for a large majority of the movie I couldn't help but actually like him. He's such a friendly, larger than life character that you can't help but smile at some of the things that he says. And yet when the man changed he really did change, scenes where he screams at Nicholas become quickly terrifying as you really do not know whether Amin will hug him or pull out a gun and shoot him in the head. Forrest Whittaker delivers and absolutely amazing performance, his seductive, fun loving side in the beginning is pulled off superbly. The nice bit of humour is very welcoming, yet its his amazingly powerful scenes later when he goes towards the nasty side that really do stick in the mind. He should win an Oscar for this role, and this is really one of the best performances in years. The other main cast member, and one that really does deserve almost as much praise is James McAvoy. He's better known as Mr Tumnus from Narnia, however here he really does become much of a serious actor. Here he is absolutely brilliant, of course he is always overshadowed by Amin, but in the scenes where he is on his own he really does shine through. At least enough to hopefully earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting actor.
Overall this movie is absolutely wonderful, it gets the highest rating with the slightest of ease, but its the impact of this movie that really will last on longest. Its a movie that needs to gets the Oscars it so richly deserves and I really do want to see this again as quickly as possible. An early front runner for Best Movie of 2007!
The dictator
jotix10016 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Most satraps that gain power begin with the pledge they are for the people. Unfortunately, history proves them wrong, again and again. In their hunger for power these misguided individuals confuse what the job entails and concentrate only in taking care of themselves as they develop huge egos that will betray them and ultimately cause their own downfall.
Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator, was a man that came into power with the potential for doing good. Instead he went to surround himself with inept people as he eliminated the ones that dared to oppose him. In this fictionalized account of the life of this strong man, there are hints that he never had any good intentions for his country or his fellow Ugandans.
The story links a naive young Scot, Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, who one day decides as a lark to point to an earth globe with his finger and decide that wherever it lands, that's where he will go to practice medicine. The first time he tries, the finger lands in Canada, but he rejects it, probably as not challenging enough. The second try his finger touches Uganda, a place that will prove fateful for this young doctor.
Little prepares Dr. Garrigan for what he encounters once in Uganda. The remote spot where he is to practice is run by the Merits, a doctor and his wife. The town where Garrigan begins working receives the visit of the new head of the country, Idi Amin. Garrigan is obviously impressed with the energy displayed by the general, who assures the poor people he is there to protect them because he is for the people. An accident brings back the doctor to the presidential car. Amin, who realizes Garrigan is from England, is happily surprised when the young man tells him he hails from Scotland.
That fateful meeting impresses both men. Amin, the powerful man, decides he wants the young doctor to be his own personal physician. The young doctor is dazzled by the Mercedes that is given to him and how he suddenly is made to be the head of the hospital in Kampala. In the meantime, Garrigan meets, and falls for one of Amin's wives, the gorgeous Kay whose only son is epileptic.
Things begin to change and Garrigan realizes he has really misjudged the situation. He starts to see how his protector can really turn against him when he wants out. The bloodbath throughout the country will devastate the land. Dr. Garrigan is angered by what Amin has done to Kay; the cruelty the dictator knows no boundaries.
Kevin McDonald the director of "The Last King of Scotland" paints a realistic picture of the madness during the Idi Amin's regime. The dictator is presented as he probably was. As any man in his position, Amin manipulates the political situation to his own advantage. He uses people to carry on his agenda and when they question anything, he eliminates them.
Forest Whitaker gives an epic performance in the title role. Mr. Whitaker, a serious actor who should be seen more often, smolders the screen every time we see him; he is bigger than life! We don't recall a performer that was able to convey what goes on in the mind of a satrap the way this actor captures every nuance of his character. Mr. Whitaker is magnificent in the way he brings this hideous man alive and runs away with the film.
James McAvoy, who plays Dr. Garrigan, is also an excellent player. He matches Mr. Whitaker perfectly. This young actor, from whose eyes the story is seen, makes a tremendous contribution to the success of the picture. Kerry Washington has a small, but pivoting role, as Kay Amin, one of the dictator's wives. Gillian Anderson appears as Sarah Merrit and Simon McBurney gives an interesting performance as Nigel Stone.
"The Last King of Scotland" is one of the best biopics about a dictator. The combination of Douglas McGrath and Forest Whitaker translates into one of the best films about the horrors of unlimited power in the hands of a mad man.
Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator, was a man that came into power with the potential for doing good. Instead he went to surround himself with inept people as he eliminated the ones that dared to oppose him. In this fictionalized account of the life of this strong man, there are hints that he never had any good intentions for his country or his fellow Ugandans.
The story links a naive young Scot, Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, who one day decides as a lark to point to an earth globe with his finger and decide that wherever it lands, that's where he will go to practice medicine. The first time he tries, the finger lands in Canada, but he rejects it, probably as not challenging enough. The second try his finger touches Uganda, a place that will prove fateful for this young doctor.
Little prepares Dr. Garrigan for what he encounters once in Uganda. The remote spot where he is to practice is run by the Merits, a doctor and his wife. The town where Garrigan begins working receives the visit of the new head of the country, Idi Amin. Garrigan is obviously impressed with the energy displayed by the general, who assures the poor people he is there to protect them because he is for the people. An accident brings back the doctor to the presidential car. Amin, who realizes Garrigan is from England, is happily surprised when the young man tells him he hails from Scotland.
That fateful meeting impresses both men. Amin, the powerful man, decides he wants the young doctor to be his own personal physician. The young doctor is dazzled by the Mercedes that is given to him and how he suddenly is made to be the head of the hospital in Kampala. In the meantime, Garrigan meets, and falls for one of Amin's wives, the gorgeous Kay whose only son is epileptic.
Things begin to change and Garrigan realizes he has really misjudged the situation. He starts to see how his protector can really turn against him when he wants out. The bloodbath throughout the country will devastate the land. Dr. Garrigan is angered by what Amin has done to Kay; the cruelty the dictator knows no boundaries.
Kevin McDonald the director of "The Last King of Scotland" paints a realistic picture of the madness during the Idi Amin's regime. The dictator is presented as he probably was. As any man in his position, Amin manipulates the political situation to his own advantage. He uses people to carry on his agenda and when they question anything, he eliminates them.
Forest Whitaker gives an epic performance in the title role. Mr. Whitaker, a serious actor who should be seen more often, smolders the screen every time we see him; he is bigger than life! We don't recall a performer that was able to convey what goes on in the mind of a satrap the way this actor captures every nuance of his character. Mr. Whitaker is magnificent in the way he brings this hideous man alive and runs away with the film.
James McAvoy, who plays Dr. Garrigan, is also an excellent player. He matches Mr. Whitaker perfectly. This young actor, from whose eyes the story is seen, makes a tremendous contribution to the success of the picture. Kerry Washington has a small, but pivoting role, as Kay Amin, one of the dictator's wives. Gillian Anderson appears as Sarah Merrit and Simon McBurney gives an interesting performance as Nigel Stone.
"The Last King of Scotland" is one of the best biopics about a dictator. The combination of Douglas McGrath and Forest Whitaker translates into one of the best films about the horrors of unlimited power in the hands of a mad man.
Story of Idi Amin's Ugandan rule from his personal doctor's POV
fivepoints20 September 2006
I saw this movie at a free Pre-Screening in Hollywood 9-19-06. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly. THE GOOD: Forrest W. acted his butt off in this one. Amazing. In fact, all of the actor's performances were terrific. The shooting locations were beautiful. There was a lot of suspense in the film and at times I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next scene. I must admit the story was really good. There were absolutely wonderful camera shots and angles. THE BAD: Gratuitous sex and violence. Say what you will about Alfred Hitchcock being from another era in film making, but his ideas about implied violence and sex in most of his films were good ones. THE UGLY: I would have enjoyed the film a lot more if it had been told from the POV of Idi Amin, one of his wives or a Ugandan in his cabinet. CONCLUSION: Would I pay to see this film? Yes. END
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