


"The Last King of Scotland" pales in comparison to those two great movies but Whitaker does just enough to elevate this piece to respectability, although my view of it remains far below those of others who have seen it. The "Midnight Express" allusion is in reference to a man driven to escape from his private hell. Certain scenes reminded me of the great Apocalypse in the way he used slightly blurring images against a spacey soundtrack. Macdonald brings in a touch of "Apocalypse Now" and a dash of "Midnight Express", I assume subconsciously.

Yes, it's silly but it almost works because Amin is silly.Īs often happens to me at the cinema, during the screening I notice elements of previous films seeping into what I am watching. For his portrayal of him in the film The Last King of Scotland Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
IDI AMIN DADA MOVIE LAST KING SCOTLAND SERIES
Through a series of highly unlikely events he becomes Amin's personal physician and more in what appears to be only a few seconds. Idi Amin: his birthday, what he did before fame, his family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more. The movie starts in 1970 with Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a callow Scottish medical graduate.In rebellion against his father, he goes to work as a doctor in Uganda. To be honest, he landed on Canada the first time but it wasn't exotic enough.įast forward to Garrigan on a bus in Uganda where he is thrown into the middle of the coup that puts Amin into power. The Last King of Scotland is a critically acclaimed 2006 Film of the Book which fictionalizes the rise and fall of Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), the infamous dictator of Uganda. He picks Uganda by spinning a globe and having his finger land upon that country. He also has a thirst for adventure from what appears to be a comfortable but unexciting home life. Cory Turner discovers another film about Amin, the 1974 documentary General Idi Amin Dada. The story, fictional as far as the doctor is concerned, set against a real background of events, is of a young man in Scotland who upon becoming a doctor decides that he wishes to help those who need it the most. The new film The Last King of Scotland has renewed interest in infamous Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. The movie is all Whitaker all the time even though he is not on screen nearly as much as his Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy). It fits the general framework of great actor having gone unrewarded to date in combination with a powerful performance. No doubt, Whitaker will garner an Oscar nomination, and he will probably win, as well. Despite everything being in place for a tremendous movie it falls a tad flat. "The Last King of Scotland" is a valiant attempt to portray Amin and everyone does their job professionally. In one scene near the end we do get a taste and it's easy to understand why that is all we are given. Both are shackled, because showing the true horrors of Amin would have caused audiences to become sick to their stomachs and made them run to the exits. This is no fault of Whitaker, who does a very fine job here, nor the fault of the director, Kevin Macdonald ("One Day in September"). A Scottish doctor is hired to become the personal physician of Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. It falls short of just how nuts Amin was. Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Last King Of Scotland. While it may seem that the performance is over the top, it isn't. That is one of the more interesting things of Forrest Whitaker's portrayal of the larger than life Amin. Buy Articles on IDI Amin, Including: History of Uganda (1971a 1979), the Last King of Scotland, the Last King of Scotland (Film), General IDI Amin Dada: A. The film contains its share of gruesome images, including a torture scene that depicts in unflinching detail what happens to someone who betrays Amin.For those of you who didn't live through the Idi Amin Dada era, you'll have to take our word for it that he was impossible to make into a more cartoonish character than he was in reality. The Last King of Scotland does not refrain from showing the brutality of what Amin’s reign becomes. Later Garrigan learns that Amin’s second wife has died from blood loss and that his medical colleague has committed suicide.

One of Garrigan’s medical colleagues begs him to perform an abortion on his lover, who also happens to be Amin’s second wife, but Garrigan refuses. Garrigan faces the fight of his life as he tries to escape Amin’s grasp. Garrigan feels flattered by his new position of power, he soon comes to realize that Amin’s rule is soaked in blood, and that he is complicit in the atrocities. While in Uganda on a medical mission, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) becomes the personal physician and close confidante of dictator Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). What is the movie The Last King of Scotland about?
