The Last King of Scotland
Genre: Drama/History/Thriller
Cast: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, …
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Release: (2006)
Deece, my friends, eece a good movie. Forest Whitaker has always been somewhat of a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in bacon, wrapped in a mystery to me. How do you categorize a man painted with character actor looks but oozing with leading man presence? More perplexingly, how do I characterize a guy who once made me secretly enjoy a movie called: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, despite all expectations to the contrary? Well, according to the Academy, I should now categorize him as Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker for his commanding performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in this gripping adaptation of Giles Foden’s novel about a young Scottish doctor swept into Amin’s inner circle.
The story picks up when, following his graduation from some prestigiously stodgy medical school, young Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) is quickly gripped by the realization that all that is left for him in the life he’s been preparing for are several long decades of staid respectability as a partner in his father’s family practice. In a panic to escape this life more ordinary, Garrigan catches the first flight to parts unknown and finds work as a medical missionary in a remote village of Uganda. When incoming president Amin is injured in an accident following a nearby campaign stop, Garrigan is summoned to his aid. Nicholas’ quick thinking and action as the scene unfolds wins Amin’s respect and, ultimately, wins Nicholas a cushy job as Amin’s personal physician and close friend. As time goes by, however, Nicholas finds it harder and harder to turn a blind eye to the atrocities of Amin’s regime and begins to realize that he may be in too deep to get out.
Poor Scottish actor James McAvoy must have been pretty excited when he read the script and landed what he thought was the role of the main character of this story. Though he fits the bill perfectly as the curious, adventurous, willfully naïve young Dr. Garrigan, McAvoy and his character have already been reduced to barely more than a footnote in history from this film. In the public consciousness, as was the case in nearly every scene of this film, the contributions of McAvoy and the rest of the cast have been wholly consumed in the shadow cast by Whitaker’s classic performance. As the egocentric, pathologically-driven, charismatic, self-imposed dictator, Forest Whitaker blurs the line between portraying someone and actually becoming them. It becomes clear after just a few scenes that this may very well be the role he was born to play. And here I always thought it would have been Mad-Eye Moody. (I’m going to hell for that one, aren’t I).
Grading
Story: A
Acting: A
Visuals: A (with bonus points for making Gillian Anderson look way hotter than I ever thought she could be)
Originality/Innovation: B
Enjoyability: A
Overall: A
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