The Last King of Scotland - 2006

Director: Kevin MacDonald

Cast: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy

Genre: Drama, Political, Thriller, Based on True Events

Rating: **** = "Really Liked it"

Forest Whitaker won the Oscar and Golden Globe for his outstanding portrayal of brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. James McAvoy also turned in a solid performance as the young Scottish doctor who becomes Idi Amin's naive personal physician.

I gave the movie 4 stars instead of 5 because, despite McAvoy's performance, I never liked his character, Dr. Garrigan, very much. Dr. Garrigan was portrayed as a stupid, naive young man who happily ignores the reality of the brutal world he has entered until it has become too late. And by that time the decisions he has made up til then and the people he had turned his back on make him a rather unsympathetic character.

Forest Whitaker's performance was a tour de force, one moment a happy, laughing, charismatic figure and turning into a raging monster in the next. I don't know if they used special angles or editing when filming him, but he seemed larger than life and just filled the screen whenever he was in a scene. The movie covers the time Dr. Garrigan first arrives in Uganda, as Idi Amin has just taken over the country, and chronicles the time he spent as Amin's personal physician. The movie focuses on the evolving relationship between the two men and the growing realization on Dr. Garrigan's part that he is part of something awful and must get out. The film moves well and keeps the audience's attention throughout. It is a gripping drama of one of history's most infamous dictators.

What Parents Need to Know:
Common Sense Media rates this movie as:
17+ = For strong violence, gruesome images, sexual content and nudity, and language:

Parents need to know that this movie is based on the real life of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and includes references to massacres, revenge killings, torture, and abuse. Some scenes depict such violence explicitly, including bloody bodies, shooting, knifing, and grisly torture.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 89% (Fresh)