Do you remember “The Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea”? Perhaps you’ve forgotten Idi Amin, the crackpot dictator of Uganda in the 1970s, who dubbed himself that during his bloody reign.
Amin also called himself “The Last King of Scotland,” which conveniently enough is the title of a new movie based on a fictional book about Amin. The novel was written by Giles Foden, who invented a character, a Scottish doctor, hired by Amin to be his personal physician.
With this fictional device, the film opens a window into Amin’s character. For the most part, it’s an absorbing study.
The young doctor from Scotland is Nicholas Garrigan, played by the able James McAvoy (the faun-man from “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). It’s 1970, and he journeys to Uganda partly to get away from his parents and partly for the sheer adventure of being a young man at loose in the world.
His initial charity work is quickly forgotten when (in a brilliantly staged scene) he comes to the attention of new Uganda president Amin (Forest Whitaker), who has seized power in a military coup. Amin enlists Garrigan as his private physician, with state dinners, a cool new car and comfortable lodgings at his disposal.
Thus Garrigan becomes a classic figure: the foolish young adventurer who gets in way, way over his head. Flattered by Amin drawing him in as a trusted adviser, he’s too slow to recognize Amin’s demented streak and too comfortable to see the damage.
The movie’s barreling style fits the out-of-control mood. At times the camera shakes in the presence of Amin, as though quaking before his authority.
This is powerfully unleashed in Forest Whitaker’s scary performance, but Whitaker does something else. He identifies the charm in Amin’s nature, drawing out the charisma in a natural-born leader – even if he was also a natural-born psychopath.
McAvoy is a good foil – he’s wispy; Whitaker is gigantic. Also fine are Kerry Washington, as Amin’s second wife; Gillian Anderson, as a medical volunteer, and Simon McBurney (“Friends with Money”), as a smarmy British operative who embodies the essence of colonial arrogance.
The director is Kevin Macdonald, whose documentaries “One Day in September” and the gripping mountain-climbing saga “Touching the Void” proved his talent for creating tension. Macdonald has a blunt approach that works, and the ’70s vibe is right without turning into kitsch.
This film was shot in Uganda, and the locations are truly stunning, from the green valleys to the jumbled city of Kampala. This is the crowning touch on an already very intriguing picture.
Forest Whitaker stars in “The Last King of Scotland.”
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