PLOT: A brash young Scottish doctor goes to work in 1970s Uganda and becomes part of dictator Idi Amin's inner circle. Power and prestige come at a price, alas. A very good film brought close to greatness.
Nicholas Garrigan is leaving his home in Scotland and going to Africa to work with the poor. It's 1970, he's finished medical school, and a clinic in Uganda seems to be just the ticket for a young man seeking adventure.
Pity that his heart's not really in it.
Garrigan (James McAvoy) is initially taken aback by the day-to-day reality of rural Uganda, but he gets to work nonetheless. At least he gets to flirt with his colleague's wife (Gillian Anderson).
One day, Garrigan hears a speech given by Idi Amin, and he watches the locals react enthusiastically to the electric presence of their new national leader. Garrigan tends to the dictator for a minor ailment, and Amin (Forest Whitaker) is impressed by the young Scottish doctor.
And, as Garrigan finds out, Amin is obsessed with the Scots. (One of the titles Amin gave himself when he ran Uganda from 1971-79 was "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.")
Garrigan is sent for, and asked to be, Amin's private physician -- a job he turns down, but without much conviction. In fact, Garrigan far prefers the presidential palace, the pool, the cars, the women and the action in Kampala, and soon enough he has accepted the post as Amin's doctor. It isn't long before Amin refers to him as his closest personal adviser.
But Amin lives in the grip of some sort of madness, and various people attempt to guide Garrigan and warn him of what he's getting himself into. He declines to see the truth until it's too late.
McAvoy is wonderful in The Last King Of Scotland as the weak, morally adrift Garrigan.
As Idi Amin, Forest Whitaker's work has already attracted lavish praise and plenty of Oscar buzz. Whitaker is astounding in this role, moving easily between the happy charm that made Amin champion of the people, and the madness that led the infamous dictator to kill almost half a million of those people. And eat a few of them.
The Last King Of Scotland, based on the best-selling novel by Giles Foden, is a fascinating look at a violent and disturbing chapter in Africa's history.
BOTTOM LINE: This is a great watch, and one that plays even better for anyone who remembers the complete chaos of Amin's rule back in the '70s. (Amin, for example, decided to expel all South Asians from Uganda in 1972, and many fled here to Toronto. That means the history behind The Last King Of Scotland is directly connected to our city's status as one of the most successful multicultural cities in the world. Cool. )
(This film is rated 18-A)
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