The Last King of Scotland

This is a story that is based the beginning of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime, as seen by his personal .
The main actors are:

• Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, always good from Fast Times at Ridgemont High to Platoon and the The Crying Game.
• James McAvoy as the new Scotish doctor Nicolas Garrigan.
• Gillian Anderson as Sarah Merrit the wife of a missionary doctor, well known from The X Files.

A freshly minted doctor graduates from school, spurns joining his fathers practice for an adventure in medicine. The doctor ends up in Uganda qt the time of Idi Amin's rise to power. By a weird twist of fate becomes the General's private doctor and by association an ad hoc advisor. Amin has risen to power by the way of his military power and a charisma. The charima is what entices the doctor to join the inner circle. As Amin evolves he becomes more and more isolated, fearful of adversaries. To protect himself he begins a Machiavellian cleaning of all real and perceived enemies. He has become like a caged animal, cruel and fierce. The doctor in time comes to understand what Amin has become, and his own complicity in some of the atrocity. He decides to leave and is prevented from doing so. Then he finds out that he has impregnated one of the dictators wives. She is desperate to get an abortion and is discovered, tortured and dismembered by Amin's soldiers. The doctor is now mad enough attempt killing Amin by poisoning his medicine. His attempt is discovered and he is tortured horrifically. Before the soldiers can finish him off, another doctor helps him escape with the released captives from the Israeli airliner that was hijacked by Arabs and brought to Entebbe.

This was a movies that I was really looking forward to seeing. The topic was strong any Whitaker makes every scene interesting. I did warn the wife off of watching, having a suspicion that the violence was severe and at times that came true, worst so at the very end with the dismemberment of the wife and the hanging of the doctor by hooks through his pectoral skin. In the end the movie was a disappointment, the plot revolved around the two main characters to the extent nothing else mattered.

I do not recommend renting this movie, it was chaotic and lacked development beyond the personalities of the two main characters. The part played by Gillian Anderson showed potential at the start of the movie, immediately fizzled and ended with a phone call and a brief glimpse driving away in the back of a bus of refugees. Whitaker was very good and believable as the larger than life Amin. was good as the young doctor. There just was not enough script to work with.

My favorite exchange was early in the movie, Garrigan is talking to a native girl on the bus ride to Uganda.

Do you have monkeys in Scotland?

No, but if we did we'd probably deep fry them!

Score 28 of 50, a movie that could have been much more.

• Character Development 7 out of 10. Amin evolves from a gregarious leader to s schizophrenic murderer. Garrigan starts as an energetic graduate and ends as a fooled and beaten doctor. Merrit does not develop at all.
• Acting 8 out of 10. Whitaker is splendid as the shifting Amin.
• Photography, cinematography 5 out of 10. Scenery at start of the movie was promising, evolved into simple indoor shots of office meetings and Caligula like parties of women rolling their bottoms.
• Writing, script 4 out of 10. This movie treats Amin's development as a mental flaw which I am sure is partly true, but does not nuance with the tribal or political factors.
• Concept 4 out of 10. The premise of a young doctor reaching such influence in a foreign culture is difficult to accept, explanation should have been applied to this evolution.