Bullied
by his biological father, young Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy)
decides to go to Africa on a petulant - spin a globe and go where it lands - whim
to do good and infuriate his parents. Nicholas arrives in Fate's choice, Uganda,
and he gets to see the immediate jubilation over General Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker)
coup.
Amin
is hugely popular since he promises schools, roads and food. He tells crowds he
only eats after all his soldiers have eaten. The poor love him. He is one of them.
When was the last time a U.S. president, or any world leader for that matter,
pumped his own gas?
Nicholas
gets a job working alongside a saint of a doctor in a remote village clinic. He
is needed there. The doctor has a harried, un-appreciated wife, Sara Zach (Gillian
Anderson). Nicholas has a young man's sexual curiosity that is quickly indicated.
He has sex with a woman he meets on his way to the clinic and then tries to seduce
Sara.
How does
Nicholas meet Amin and become the president's closest friend, confidante, chief
advisor, and confessor? They meet "cute." He wraps Amin's hand up when
it is injured on an official state visit to the village. Visiting the capital
city of Kampala, he dazzles Amin with his medical skills by relieving him of gas.
Amin
is desperate for companionship. Even though he has several wives, he is lonely.
He is terrified that rivals want him dead. He knows Nicholas has no political
agenda and decides to reward Nicholas with appointing him his personal physician.
He puts the kid in charge of Uganda's Department of Health!
But
Nicholas has gone native. The music, the food, the African vibe, and the extravagant
gifts bestowed on him by Amin clouds his Scottish sensibilities. He is warned
by British agents about Amin but he ignores them.
(True,
Amin is credited with killing 300,000 Ugandans, but he is nowhere near the top
ten of murderous dictators. There's Mao Ze Dong (49 million), Josef Stalin (13
million), Adolf Hitler (12 million) and Pol Pot (1.7 million). Idi Amin is number
18!)
Amin tells
Nicholas he is president because the British put him there. Soon Amin starts enjoying
his absolute power and starts sending out death squads to quell his - perhaps
not irrational - paranoia. Those British agents do seem sneaky. When Nicholas
finds out that his replacement and an off-handed remark to Amin about an advisor
has led to their "disappearances," what does he do? He promptly starts
an affair with Amin's neglected wife Kay (Kerry Washington). Nicholas seems to
attract sexually starved wives.
Amin
is bound to find out as Nicholas' relationship with Kay as it escalates towards
disaster. Will he get out of Uganda before Amin finds him?
Forest
Whitaker takes the role and boldly fires up Amin's formidable charisma. He sweats,
he eats, he royally indulges himself and all his favorites. His eyes bulge. Yes,
he is a bloodthirsty dictator, but it is Nicholas who becomes spineless and reckless,
and thereby loses our sympathy. He never bothers to do anything good with his
undeserved power. You come away from "Last King" thinking there were
more guilty parties than just Amin.
"The
Last King of Scotland's" director, Kevin Macdonald, made the impressive semi-documentary
"Touching the Void." (I agree with the condemnation of the climbing
community. The other guy should not have cut the rope.) "Last King"
was filmed in Uganda and Macdonald does capture the chaos and political climate
of the country. He uses Whitaker sparingly but it is a commanding, powerful performance
deserving of an Academy Award. Unfortunately, it will be a nomination for Best
Supporting Actor.
