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The high price of seduction.
Kevin Macdonald's "The Last King of Scotland" has won renown for Forest Whitaker's justly Oscar-winning performance as Idi Amin. If there has ever been a cinematic performance that can truly be said to burst out of the screen, it's Whitaker's. His Amin is intensely alive, unpredictable, and terrifying; staring at the other characters with his unreadable, strabismatic gaze, you never know whether he's going to hug or kill them (there's a 50-50 chance between the two). Therefore, it's a surprise when seeing the film for the first time that Amin is not the lead character. It's Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young Scottish doctor who's an amalgam of several Europeans unlucky enough to have been in Uganda in the 1970s. Garrigan, who comes to Uganda on a lark, is fun-loving, well-meaning, vaguely idealistic but with a wobbly moral compass. A chance meeting with Amin leaves Garrigan intoxicated with Amin's powerful charisma and charm; Amin, for his part, is convinced that Garrigan is the miracle-working adviser he's been seeking. Thus begins a toxic relationship in which Garrigan, first naively and then willfully, blinds himself to the obvious warning signs of Amin's true nature. By the time Garrigan finally wakes to Amin's insanity and the hideous carnage of Amin's rule, he finds he has no friends; all those opposed to Amin see Garrigan as Amin's "white monkey," as a British diplomat sneeringly tells Garrigan. Eventually, even Amin passes moral judgment (as well as judgment of another kind) on Garrigan: "Did you ever do anything in your life that is good?" the bloody butcher asks the well-meaning but silly doctor. And that is a judgment, Macdonald implies, that could have been passed on far too many of us in that situation. McAvoy is excellent as Garrigan, but the character's behavior is so stupid at times that you just want to slap him. When Whitaker is on screen, the movie really comes to life. And we, like Garrigan, are seduced.

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Forest, King of Scots
A mix of fiction and the truth <
>that leaves us sad, but wiser <
>the secrets of Idi Amin <
>as told by his advisor <
> <
>A doctor leaves his Scottish home <
>to help folk in Uganda <
>he's soon caught up in Amin's world <
>seduced by propaganda <
> <
>The dictator with two different sides <
>one charming, one insane <
>three hundred thousand people died <
>during his bloody reign <
> <
>If you're not for him, you're against <
>people start disappearing <
>the crowds that once called out his name <
>are now no longer cheering <
> <
>The doctor tries to talk to him <
>about the loss of life <
>he drinks too much in his despair <
>and sleeps with someone's wife <
> <
>Careless errors seal his fate <
>and soon he falls from grace <
>he should have kept his zipper up <
>and not passed second base <
> <
>Fate intervenes that day in June <
>a hijack on Air France <
>that ended up at Entebbe <
>gives him a second chance <
> <
>Like Helen Mirren in "The Queen" <
>Forest just aced the part <
>When once I thought that Will should win <
>I've had a change of heart <
> <
>A warning to the squeamish folk <
>there are some graphic scenes <
>if you can stand the sight of blood <
>then watch it by all means <
> <
> <
> <
>Amanda Richards, March 18, 2007 <
>

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a ruthless look into the mind of a tyrant
young Nicholas is a scottish doctor who decides to go to Africa and become the personal physician for the Ugandin leader Idi Amin. as the doctor becomes more engrossed into the leaders life, we slowly see how Amin rises to power and in the process slowly delve into madness until he would forever be remembered as one of the most ruthless tyrants ever known. i will admit just like everyone else that Forest Whitaker's Oscar winning performance is really the driving force of the whole movie. his potrayl of Amin is both suductive and tyranical, sometimes even at the same breath. you can just feel the power he admits of screen and slowly but surley delve into a dark recess of his mind that explodes in kinetic energy. MacAvoy more then holds his own with Forest, in a role thats is a nice change from playing a fawn in The Chronicles Of Narnia. i want to clear up an issue most people are having with the film. most people are saying that Forest's role is only a supporting one and that MacAvoy is the real main character. let me be clear, according to Academy rules, an actors performence can be considered either a leading or supporting role. it all depends on what the people lobby for, trying to give the actor a better chance at winning. example, Jennifer Hudson was nominated this year for supporting even though she has more screen time then Beyonce, the leading role but they lobbied for supporting to give her a better shot at gold, which she won by the way. comprende? and plus, its really Forest who is the real lead in this film. so to see a true powerhouse performence, Last King Of Scotland is the one for you. see it for Forest.