The Last King of Scotland

The Last King of Scotland is a story about a select part of the world few people know about: Uganda. In the 1970s, military leader Ida Imin seizes power and takes control of the country. At the same time, a Scottish doctor decides to travel and ends up working in a Ugandan hospital, where he meets the new dictator, who at once uses all his charm to enlist the doctor as his personal physician. As a close confidante to Imin, Dr. Nicholas Garrigan wielded a sizeable amount of power, seemingly second only to the president himself. However, as time goes on, the reality behind the dazzingly lights of the parties and the fancy cars began to set in, and Dr. Garrigan suspected that something was very wrong. The country was not heading toward a new golden age, as Imin had promised when he seized power. Instead, the violence he vowed to end was perpetuated more fiercely by himself. People were dying in the hundreds of thousands. When Garrigan accidentally causes the death of a close colleague by merely casting suspicion on a colleague's motive, he realizes the peril he himself is in. He must get out of Uganda, away from this madman, this man who claims to love Scotland and rules Uganda with an iron fist.

Although this movie's plot is entirely fiction, based on a book exploring the possible relationship between a dictator and his fictional physician, Imin is a real historical figure. The film utilizes several ingenious devices throughout to keep the audience captivated. In the beginning, the innocence of the good doctor is very believable. As doubts creep into his mind, so do they creep into the audience's mind. Can the doctor be wrong? The evidence slowly builds against Imin, and there is a wonderful transition in Garrigan at each stage of the process. Garrigan does not appear to be an idiot sold by the charm of Imin. Instead, the film portrays the plausibility that anyone in Garrigan's position may make the same, bad choice. Other than the shock the viewer must feel along with Garrigan when he "switches sides," the greatest suprise in the movie is perhaps at the end, during the credits, when true facts about the terror of Imin is told in simple, plain text. The greatest shock is that such a tyrant existed in this world and was allowed to reign for eight years.

A large part of why this film succeeds is due to the mood it sets. Without the use of expensive setpieces or add-in effects, the film successfully portrays the mood at all times, usually mirroring Garrigan's mood. However, there really isn't much else to say regarding this, as there really wasn't much that warrants extra attention.

A particular point that did stand out was the performance of Forest Whitaker as Imin. He was very convincing at all points in the movie. His facial features switched from a charming to a genuinely frightening look in quick second. After watching the film, one has to wonder how scary it would be to have man like Imin around, as Whitaker's version of him is so good. I cannot praise Whitaker's performance enough, and I was not surprised when he won the 2006 Academy Awards for Best Actor.

Overall, the Last King of Scotland was a surprisingly good film that I felt was educational and entertaining at the same time.

Pros: Accurate portrayal of dictator Idi Imin, Whitaker's excellent performance
Cons: Some parts were predictable, ending could use more work, film style was nothing special
Conclusion: As far as plausible stories go, this is as close as it gets.
Score: 4/5