The Last King of Scotland
Directed by Kevin Macdonald
In the mind of Idi Amin, the murderous self-aggrandizing dictator of Uganda in the 1970s, far-off Scotland was actually a simpatico sufferer under British imperialism. The Last King of Scotland imagines the unlikely journey of a ballsy, freshly minted Scots doctor into Amin’s inner circle, first as personal physician and then as semi-willing advisor. Adapted from a novel by a British journalist, the film features an energizing performance by Forest Whitaker, who brings out the mad assurance of purpose behind Amin’s disarming, loopy charisma and bloodthirsty paranoia. Much of the first half we feel like Nicholas Garrigan, our young randy doctor (James McAvoy), a mesmerized voyeur in a state of suspense about Amin’s reactions and foibles moment to moment. As Nicholas gradually recognizes his moral compromises despite righteous tirades to a slimy British consul (Simon McBurney), the film could become an allegory of disastrous colonial misadventure (where there’s surely a symbolic place for his bedding one of Amin’s women). But after setting up their relationship, director Kevin Macdonald has no idea how to proceed, much less recuperate so pointlessly naive a protagonist. So, superfluously, he sends Last King racing down the road of a political thriller, even plonking down an insipidly pounding suspense score. The chic careening camerawork and coppery reds, à la Constant Gardener, here only seem to suggest a hardening code for third-world sexed-up cine-tourism, good for Amin’s playboy pad maybe but rote elsewhere. With Nicholas so circumscribed, and with little interest shown in other voices on the scene, Macdonald’s perverse feat is to make a tyrant the most compelling figure.
Opens September 27
Opens September 27
