Film Review: The Last King of Scotland @ The Screening Room
Every year, a small film is thrust into mainstream attention based purely on the strength of a stunning performance by an underrated actor. Last year, it was Philip Seymour Hoffman’s chameleon-like rendition of Truman Capote that turned Capote into a commercially viable property and Oscar bait.
This year, Forest Whitaker has earned a great deal of well deserved attention for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, now in wide release. Whitaker, for better or worse, has long been typecast as a gentle-giant figure, with his intimidating size subjugated by his trademark hound-dog expression and kind demeanour.
While this seems to be an extension of his own personality (his directorial career is limited to weep-fests like Waiting To Exhale and Hope Floats), strong appearances in films such as Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog have suggested that he’s capable of much more. In The Last King of Scotland, Whitaker finally breaks free of his onscreen persona and roves himself to be a talented character actor. There’s no trace of Whitaker’s personality in his portrayal of the brutal Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin.
Amin is a character of extremes—appearing either joyously boisterous, bouncing around the room with the energy of a young child, or terrifyingly psychotic, capable of horrific acts of violence without warning. Often both sides of Amin’s polar personality appear in the same scene, yet Whitaker always makes his character transitions completely believable, and often frighteningly real. It’s a career performance that he may never top, and one that begs to be seen.
Based on the novel of the same name by Giles Foden, The Last King of Scotland follows a young Scottish doctor named Nicholas Garrigan, played by James McAvoy, who recently graduated medical school and decided to take up practice in Uganda. By chance, he meets Idi Amin and, due to the dictator’s obsession with Scottish culture, the two become friends. Seduced by Amin’s animated
and playful personality, Nicholas suddenly finds himself the president’s advisor and closest confidant. But soon the young doctor learns of Amin’s true personality and finds himself caught in a world of betrayal, torture and murder. By putting the fictional character of Nicholas into the very real world of Amin’s totalitarian government, the audience is able to slowly come to with the reality of the
situation. As a result, the movie has the structure of a thriller, making it work as an entertaining piece of cinema, rather than simply being a history lesson caught on film.
The cast surrounding Forest Whitaker is also strong, if not quite as memorable. McAvoy makes his
first major screen role and is given the rather thankless task of acting as the audience’s cipher, gradually realizing that Amin is not what he seems (in fact, if there’s a major flaw in the film, it’s that the protagonist is the least interesting character). But, McAvoy is able to make his character believable and likable, despite his occasionally selfish and naïve behaviour.
Gillian Anderson is effective in her brief ing role as the wife of a noble British doctor, and Simon McBurney steals all of his scenes as a slimey English diplomat trying to use Nicholas as an inside source in the Ugandan government. Filming on location with handheld cameras, the film has
the immediacy of a documentary, which only serves to intensify the thrilling drama of the final act.
Idi Amin was a true sociopath, and McDonald spares the audience nothing of his horrific behaviour.
A powerful movie anchored by an amazing performance, The Last King Of Scotland is one of the few films of the awards season that warrants the hype. It may not be perfect, but it’s a truly great film that demands recognition.
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