The Last King of Scotland
I have to admit that I ‘m always wary of films that take place in Africa due to the fact that I find it a little off-putting that apparently filmmakers feel that we have to have a white main character for us to relate to a film based on African struggles. With The Constant Gardner, Blood Diamond and to some extent Babel it’s starting to get a bit redundant, especially considering there is some quality films such as Tsotsi and especially Yesterday that deal with similar issues without being so obvious.
After graduating medical school and giving off a serious Benjamin Braddock vibe Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) spins a globe to decide where he should start his life. Unfortunately for him he lands on the African country of Uganda. During a chance encounter with Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), Uganda’s new leader, Garrigan make an impression on him. Before he realizes it he’s living in luxury as the President’s own personal physician. As time passes he becomes close to Amin and eventually is one of his most trusted advisors. Being so close, Garrigan can see past the overwhelming charm of the President to the madman underneath whose rumored atrocities begin to come to light.
Let’s face it, this is Forest Whitaker’s movie. His work here completely dominates this film, but in a good way not like Sean Penn in All the King’s Men. It should be taught in acting classes as how to give a big performance without hamming it up. He’s able to not only show what a sadistic madman Amine is, but Whitaker completely captures his charisma and charm as well. You can almost see how Amin was able to fool everyone. Having said that, I don’t want to sell James McAvoy short, without his Doctor Garrigan to play off of, Whitaker would just be spinning his wheels.
It’s amazing to me that director Kevin MacDonald is able to pull of not only showing how much of a monster Amin was, but how he charmed everyone into believing he was a nice guy. This is all done without ever making him a sympathetic character. It’s an incredibly fine line to walk, but it’s navigated amazingly adeptly. Amin snows the people and plays into Garrigan’s own hedonistic tendencies. Once he realizes that Amin considers him his closest personal advisor Garrigan’s image of him begins to unravel until he see the monster the general really is.
The subplots involving Garrigan chasing Kay Amin (Kerry Washington) and Sarah Merrit (Gillian Anderson) are unnecessary. The whole idea of romance between a powerful man’s wife and that man’s closest fried is an old story. It’s half of the King Arthur legend, but McAvoy and especially Whitaker carry it through. You have to respect his work here and it would be worth your time to just see the performance of a lifetime from one of everyone’s favorite actors.
The Grade
- Story: B
- Acting: A+
- Visuals: B
- Originality: B
- Enjoyability: B+
- Overall: B+
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