The Last King of Scotland
By Tammie Fells, Blockbuster.co.uk

”Fearing death means you have a life worth living”

Following the looming aftermath of the Oscars® I think it’s fair to say that nothing has managed to excite me more than the release of “The Last King of Scotland” Forest Whitaker’s amazingly true to life portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Now recognised as one of the best acting talents in the world I am more than happy to put my life on hold for two hours and check out what the man has to say.

I felt a little worried at first, thinking that a movie like this would merely be a documentary style epilogue about the President of Uganda and his reign from 1970 to 1979. Alas, the self-proclaimed Conqueror of the British Empire had a little more to him than meets the eye. What I actually got was a very powerful movie about loyalty and trust and justice and I also got a very strong reassurance that the Oscar® went to the right person.

Desperate to escape his downtrodden past, and on a mission to help the needy in Uganda's poorest regions, young Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) meets up with the king and quickly forms a friendship with him. The King also likes both his medical and sartorial style and asks him if he would be interested in joining him at the palace to be his personal doctor.

Despite having to attend to Amin's every need, Garrigan is soon leading the high life, with a flash car, flashier women and a beautiful apartment. He even represents the President in high-level meetings. Inevitably, the dream turns sour when Garrigan begins to learn that his new best friend is a tyrant who has no quarms about killing the people of his own country.

The most compelling achievement here for me was the story. It is gripping to watch as Garrigan learns about the extreme consequences of disloyalty to this man and ultimately what it is like to be on the wrong side of him.

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