Film Review: The Last King of Scotland

Maddy Fry reviews the Oscar winning film The Last King of Scotland.

''Based on the novel by Giles Foden, this film about the inner workings of Idi Amin’s government may be drawn from fiction, but it does not exaggerate the horrors of his brutal regime.'' ''The leader, who is bizarrely already obsessed with Scottish history and culture, takes a liking to Garrigan and the two become friends.'' ''Forrest Whitaker's portrayal of the morally bankrupt, psychotic dictator who becomes progressively more savage as the film progresses has won him an Oscar.''

Based on the novel by Giles Foden, this film about the inner workings of Idi Amin’s government may be drawn from fiction, but it does not exaggerate the horrors of his brutal regime.

The central character of the film, aside from Amin, is one that perhaps many of you reading this will relate to: a recent university graduate who likes football, booze, and wild passionate sex. The film starts out following this young doctor, Nicholas Garrigan, who, bored and fresh out of medical school, decides to leave his parents’ home in Scotland and head off to 1970s Uganda.

His desire to use his skills to make a difference in the developing world at first seems noble and typical of any idealistic young student, but as the film progresses it strays into more adult territory. After treating a wound in the Ugandan dictator Amin’s hand, the leader, who is bizarrely already obsessed with Scottish history and culture, takes a liking to him and the two become friends.

As he is young and idealistic, it is in many ways understandable why Garrigan is drawn so easily into Amin’s amoral abyss. Like many of history’s tyrants, Idi Amin does not initially advertise his penchant for butchering any dissenters to his regime. Garrigan therefore naively believes that the General has Uganda’s best interests at heart.

But before long the young Scotsman finds it impossible to ignore Amin’s growing insanity and increasingly violent tendencies. When Garrigan finds himself trapped in Uganda after Amin steals his passport, the film becomes a powerful exploration of the corrupting effect that egotism and the desire for status can have on foolish, but otherwise good, people.

The Last King of Scotland portrays its leading white man as being pleasingly complex. Garrigan is likeable in his desire to have fun and lend a helping hand, but extremely flawed in his immature and thoughtless lust for power - particularly in his attempts to influence the dictator’s decision-making, for which he receives a come-uppance of sorts.

The film also ranks highly in that it does not allow the viewer the luxury of being spared from the violent methods that Amin used to wreak upon his country. All those of a squeamish disposition beware: this is a film that is difficult to sit through if you cannot stomach what Amin does to one of his unfaithful spouses.

But by far the highest point of the film is the outstanding performance of Idi Amin from the actor Forest Whitaker. His portrayal of the morally bankrupt, psychotic dictator who becomes progressively more savage as the film progresses has won him an Oscar, as you probably know by now. He ensures that The Last King of Scotland will be one of the most memorable and disturbing journey’s you will ever take into Africa’s heart of darkness...