The Last King of Scotland --Oscar is written all over it! Whitaker's Towering Portrayal of the Mesmerizing Ugandan Dictator Lifts This Historical Fiction
Whitaker's ferociously charismatic turn as Idi Amin so dominates this intense historical fiction that it is honestly difficult to pay attention to anything else in this 2006 political thriller. Though definitively the emotional locus, he is intriguingly not the protagonist of the story. That role belongs to young James McAvoy, who plays Nicholas Garrigan, a precocious Scottish doctor who ventures to Uganda to satisfy his need for adventure after graduating medical school. By happenstance, Garrigan is called upon to help Amin with a minor sprain after his private car plows into a cow. Impressed by the young man's lack of hesitancy to take action, Amin appoints Garrigan to be his personal physician, a post that seduces the impressed doctor into the Ugandan dictator's political inner circle and extravagant lifestyle.
Scottish director Kevin MacDonald brings his extensive documentary film-making skills to the fore here, as he creates a most realistic-feeling atmosphere in capturing the oppressive Uganda of the 1970's. Helping considerably with this image are the vibrant color contrasts in Anthony Dod Mantle's cinematography and the propulsive action induced by Justine Wright's sharp editing. Screenwriters Peter Morgan (who also wrote "The Queen") and Jeremy Brock have developed a sharply delineated character study of Amin, who evolves from a magnetic leader giving hope to his people to a scarifying tyrant conducting murders on an imaginable scale (at least until the genocides in Rwanda and Darfur). It is impossible to over-praise Whitaker's towering performance here. He conveys the dictator's playfulness as well as his unmitigated rage moving from simmering to full boil with a power that is at once bravura and subtle. His relationship with the fictionalized Garrigan turns out to be the plot's essential pivot point, although the contrast between the two can be almost too extreme at times.
While McAvoy admirably captures the boyish naiveté of Garrigan, the character is drawn out in rather broad strokes that make his self-delusion all the more contrived as the story progresses. To intensify the political upheaval portrayed, the plot takes a melodramatic turn into an adulterous affair and even folds in the infamous 1976 Entebbe hijacking incident to illustrate Garrigan's increasingly precarious situation. It's all exciting and even downright brutalizing toward the end, but it also starts to feel a bit too Hollywood in execution. Kerry Washington shows genuine versatility as Amin's cloistered third wife Kay, while Simon McBurney oozes cynical suspicion with ease as a British operative. A convincingly Brit-accented Gillian Anderson makes her few scenes count as a weary clinic worker who proves to have better instincts than Garrigan. But see the movie for Whitaker's magnificent work. He is that good.
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Memorable quotes:
Nicholas Garrigan: Why are you doing this? Djonjo: Frankly, I don't know. You deserve to die. But dead, you can do nothing. Alive, you might just be able to redeem yourself. Nicholas Garrigan: I don't understand. Djonjo: I am tired of hatred, Doctor Garrigan. This country is drowning in it. We deserve better... Go home. Tell the world the truth about Amin. They will believe you; you are a white man. Nicholas Garrigan: I didn't want him to die though. Idi Amin: But you did it. Why? You want to know why? Nicholas Garrigan: Yes. Idi Amin: You did it because you love me. Idi Amin: What you need, is to have some fun. Nicholas Garrigan: You're a child. That's what makes you so fucking scary. Kay Amin: You must find a way to get out. Idi Amin: I want you to tell me what to do. Nicholas Garrigan: You want ME to tell YOU what to do? Idi Amin: Yes, you are my advisor. You are the only one I can trust in here. You should have told me not to throw the Asians out, in the first place. Nicholas Garrigan: I DID! Idi Amin: But you did not persuade me, Nicholas. You did not persuade me! Idi Amin: [to crowd at rally] I know who you are and what you are. I am you! Idi Amin: You see. You are a doctor and a philosopher. Yes, I do have a good life now. Please, please. Sit here. I come from a very poor family, I think you should know this. My father left me when I was a child. The British Army; became my home. They took me as a cleaner, in the kitchens, cleaning pots. They used to beat me. [imitating British] Idi Amin: "Beat this wall, Amin." "Dig the latreen, Amin." And now, here I am. The President of Uganda. And who put me here, huh? It was the British. Idi Amin: Before I forget, I need to ask you a favor. Nicholas Garrigan: Anything. Idi Amin: I will be in Libya next week, and I need you to attend a meeting in my place. Nicholas Garrigan: What kind of meeting? Idi Amin: A simple matter of taste and common sense. I cannot think of anyone better than you. Idi Amin: They take you to a tree and hang you by your skin. Each time you scream the evil comes out of you. Sometimes, it can take three days for your evil to be spent. Pull him up. Nicholas Garrigan: I can't. It fucking stinks. I can't help coming back to that moment when I asked you to talk to him. This isn't me. I have to go home now. Idi Amin: You cannot. Nicholas Garrigan: What? Idi Amin: Your work is not finished here yet. Idi Amin: You promised to me you would help me build a new Uganda. You swore an oath. Nicholas Garrigan: The oath is... erm... it's, it's a doctor’s oath of confidentiallity; we all take it. It's got nothing to do with Uganda. Idi Amin: Huh? Nothing? Nothing comes from nothing. You have a conscience, I know you do. That is why you came here in the first place. Or are you like all the other British. Just here to fuck and to take away? No? Why else would I trust you with my family? You are like my own son. Idi Amin: I am the father of this nation, Nicholas. And you have most... grossly... offended your father. Idi Amin: I am ashamed that you saw me like that. I was frightened. Nicholas Garrigan: I'm a doctor. Everything that passes between us is confidential. Ok? I've taken an oath. Idi Amin: But a man that shows fear... he is weak, and he is a slave. Nicholas Garrigan: Well... if you're afraid of dying, shows you have a life worth keeping. Nicholas Garrigan: If you're afraid of dying it shows you have a life worth living. Kay Amin: [about her husband] He cannot trust anybody anymore. Girl on Bus: Do you have monkeys in Scotland? Nicholas Garrigan: No, but if we did we'd probably deep fry them! Nicholas Garrigan: My name is Nicholas Garrigan, and I'm from Scotland. I need to go home now. Idi Amin: Your home... is here. Sarah Merrit: Do you know the feeling when you're married to a really nice guy? Dr. Garrigan: You feel like a shit. Sarah Merrit: Yeah... Idi Amin: You came to Africa to play the White Man, but we are real! This room is real! And when you die? It will be the first real thing you have ever done! Nigel Stone: You know what they're calling you? Amin's white monkey. Idi Amin: You are British. Nicholas Garrigan: Scottish. I am Scottish. Idi Amin: Scottish? Ha! Ha! Why didn't you say so?... Great soldiers. Very brave. And good people. Completely. let me tell you, if I could be anything instead of a Ugandan, I would be a Scot. Nicholas Garrigan: Right... Really? Idi Amin: He. Except for the red hair, which I'm sure is attractive to your women, but which we Africans, we find is quite disgusting. Nicholas Garrigan: Can't you see that she is in pain? Would somebody do something about this cow? Masanga: Hallo Nicholas! Welcome to the president's car! Nigel Stone: You may find... that you need to... clarify... your situation. So please, don't hesitate to ask... if there's anything we can do to help you clarify... Nicholas Garrigan: Is there some special school where you people go to to learn to talk like that? Nicholas Garrigan: [closes eyes, spins globe] First place you land, first place you land. [stops globe with finger, looks] Nicholas Garrigan: Canada. [pause. Spins globe again] [while having sex with a Ugandan girl he met on the bus] Nicholas Garrigan: I'M A MEDICAL OFFICER OVERSEAS! [Drunk at a party wth Kay] Nicholas Garrigan: I'm fucking doomed! You know he's got go-go dancers after me? Joy: Nicky! Nicholas Garrigan: Oh, Shit! Hide me! Kay Amin: Shhhh! Who is that? Nicholas Garrigan: It's the go-go dancer. [first lines] Nicholas Garrigan: Come on! Are youse ready? [last lines] Idi Amin: Because many of the people who, uh, broke relations with Israel, they are not only Muslims, they are also Christians. This particular certain point is very important... [interrupted by minister] [last title cards] Title card: 48 hours later, Israeli forces stormed Entebbe and liberated all but one of the hostages. International public opinion turned against Amin for good. Title card: When he was finally overthrown in 1979 jubilant crowds poured onto the streets. Title card: His regime had killed more than 300,000 Ugandans. Title card: Amin died in exile in Saudi Arabia on the 16th of August 2003. Title card: Nobody knows if that was the date he had dreamed about. Nicholas Garrigan: [to Kay] Oh, fuck it. Djonjo: My wife...
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