The Last King of Scotland

2006 "Charming. Magnetic. Murderous."
7.6| 2h3m| R| en
Details

Young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan decides it's time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck in Uganda, and arrives during the downfall of President Obote. General Idi Amin comes to power and asks Garrigan to become his personal doctor.

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Reviews

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
adonis98-743-186503 In the early 1970s Nicholas Garrigan, a young semi-idealistic Scottish doctor, comes to Uganda to assist in a rural hospital. Once there he soon meets up with the new President, Idi Amin, who promises a golden age for the African nation. Garrigan hits it off immediately with the rabid Scotland fan, who soon offers him a senior position in the national health department. The Last King of Scotland has an impressive cast for sure but that ain't enough for it's mindless storyline and really poorly perfomance by McAvoy in a really silly and forgettable role. (0/10)
classicsoncall Back during the late Seventies, I read a book by Henry Kyemba titled "State of Blood: The Inside Story of Idi Amin", and recall a situation involving the Ugandan dictator having numerous members of his opposition summarily thrown into a crocodile infested river as a way of dealing with them. So I was waiting for confirmation of that while watching this picture and the subject finally came up when the diplomatic aide Stone (Simon McBurney) mentioned it to Dr. Garrigan (Kames McAvoy). What was interesting was when I went to Wikipedia to look up the book title, there was a picture of Henry Kyemba looking remarkably similar to the actor who portrayed Jonah Wasswa, Amin's Minister of Health. It turns out that Kyemba WAS Amin's Minister of Health for a short time until he fled Uganda and it's tyrannical rule!So with that extraordinary coincidence, one has to wonder why the film makers resorted to creating a fictional character in the person of Nicholas Garrigan to tell the story of Idi Amin. Amin's real life story would have made for a much more compelling picture to my mind, and would not have needed the first half of this movie to paint a disarmingly charming aspect of the ruthless dictator. Beyond that, even the most feeble attempt to portray Garrigan in a romantic entanglement with one of Amin's wives borders on the ridiculous, so why even go there? So as far as fictional stories go, and forgetting about historical accuracy, this was a fairly decent thriller with Forest Whitaker in a significantly cast against type role considering some of his other projects in which he portrays more reserved characters. He makes the transition from faux charm to maniacal craziness work rather effectively, with a unique power of persuasion to keep Garrigan in line each time the doctor expressed doubts about his role at Amin's side as personal physician.Having read a number of other reviews about the film, and seeing how it wasn't mentioned by anyone else, I'd like to comment on Gillian Anderson's role in the early going as the wife of another medical doctor stationed in Uganda. Her appearance actually stunned me somewhat, in as much as she looked a lot better (that is to say, a lot more attractive) than in any 'X-Files' episode I'd ever seen her in. Just goes to show what was possible after ditching Fox Mulder.
Miguel Neto The Last King of Scotland tells the story of Idi Amin , the Ugandan dictator , Forest Whitaker plays flawlessly , so that her performance gave him an Oscar , James McAvoy is also excellent as a Scottish doctor , and deserved an Oscar nomination , the film has already explained at the beginning that mix reality with fiction, for example McAvoy 's character did not exist, the picture of the film is very good, the soundtrack is excellent, has shocking scenes , such as near the end he sees one of Amin 's wives with arms stitched in place of the leg , very strong, and near the end which holds the character of McAvoy his chest and up, and strong scene , the Last King of Scotland is one of the best 2006 films, with an excellent cast is impeccable performance of Whitaker . Note 8.5
Michael Morrison Idi Amin was an interesting, even intriguing, real-life character, but whether this movie portrays him well, I don't know.But the focus was too much on a fictional character, a weak and uninteresting character, the, as I said, fictional Dr. Nicholas Garrigan.Garrigan actually distracted and detracted from the story, which involved world-shaking upheaval in Uganda, revolution and murder and cross-border turmoil.Sorry, but even the portrayal was uninteresting. I could see nothing attractive about the actor or the character.What really damaged the movie, though, was the wobbly camera work. "Law and Order" on TV might be the source of so much hand-held motion picture photography, but it became a cliché there and also there distracted from the story.In "Last King," the camera often simply lost the subject, as if the camera operator fell asleep, or his fingers got slippery from sweat.The director and camera operator really should be ashamed.And I guess I disliked the movie more because of the ugliness of the subject and the way it was presented. And I had been wanting for years to watch it. What a disappointment.