The Last King of Scotland

Underinformed people attending a showing of The Last King of Scotland might be surprised to know that Forest Whitaker’s brilliant onscreen interpretation of former Ugandan leader and mass genocide perpetrator, Idi Amin, is actually a supporting role. Press materials and synopses all point to Whitaker’s work as the main attraction (which it is), but the real story here is about a Scottish doctor living in exceedingly comfortable quarters who journeys to Uganda in search of a personal adventure. James McAvoy gives an overshadowed but equally flawless performance as the doctor, Nicholas Garrigan.

The decision to make Ugandan newcomer, Garrigan, the eyes through which the audience views the film helps to frame the potential unwieldy narrative. It’s clear that the film’s main objective is to capture the menace and unexpected charm of Amin, but by encasing this in a more general story, it avoids the tendency of many biopics to tediously meander through the lives of their subjects. The film isolates a specific and notably intense moment in time in order to illustrate the overall tone of Amin’s regime. It also casts the dangerous man in the midst of a political thriller of sorts, allowing a conventional genre to be the basis upon which director Kevin MacDonald shapes this tale of deadly political corruption. Though Nicholas Garrigan did not really exist, his fictitious work as Amin’s personal physician brings us into the story with appropriately amateurish eyes. We meet Amin with as much openness and enthusiasm as Garrigan does and become slowly disgusted in just the same way. Garrigan’s presence not only inhibits overelaboration, it also gives us a clean pair of eyes with which to experience the complex character of Amin.

Unfortunately, there are also a number of poor choices made regarding this device. Garrigan sometimes dominates the film too much. For example, subplots involving his brief relationships with a fellow doctor (Gillian Anderson) and one of Amin’s wives (Kerry Washington) feel superfluous and weaken the film’s momentum. The movie is a bit too long and can sometimes drag in moments like these that don’t directly deal with Garrigan’s connection to Amin. Regardless, The Last King of Scotland is an exceptional film. It wonderfully meshes the stylistic habits of a thriller with some deeply disturbing true events in order to craft a chilling character portrait that will not soon be forgotten.

Grade: A-