The Last King of Scotland (2006)

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald | 118 minutes | drama, thriller, history | Actors: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Simon McBurney, David Oyelowo, Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga, Adam Kotz, Barbara Rafferty, David Ashton, Giles Foden, Andy Williams, Martina Amati, Peter Salmon, Michael Wawuyo

Forest Whitaker. Why isn’t he noticed more often in Hollywood? He’s played stellar roles in films like ‘The Crying Game’, ‘Smoke’, and ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’, but hasn’t exactly made it to the A-list of actors, or won an Oscar nomination. ‘The Last King of Scotland’ could well mean a turning point. It is a committed historical drama, albeit in thriller form, which, like the popular ‘Hotel Rwanda’, exposes major abuses in an African country. And Whitaker, as the charismatic villain Amin, has a role that completely demands the viewer’s attention. Although James McAvoy as the Scottish doctor may be in the picture more often, it is mainly about the character of Whitaker, who plays the role of his life here.

McAvoy as Doctor Nicholas Garrigan is very naive and makes ill-considered choices to say the least, but in fact his character is irrelevant. It functions to take the viewer by the hand into Amin’s personal life, and to be able to shed light on all its facets. We now see, along with Garrigan, how deceptively good-natured and “attractive” Amin can appear. From his first speech, Garrigan is sold and believes that Amin really is the new promise for Uganda. As happens more and more these days, just look at ‘Der Untergang’, villains are simply portrayed as people, who can also have funny or charming quirks. The first personal meeting between Amin and Garrigan is immediately a nice icebreaker. A highly explosive situation suddenly turns innocent when Amin finds out that Garrigan is a Scot, and Amin has this land in high esteem. When it turns out that the doctor is wearing a Scottish shirt under his sweater, Amin becomes wildly enthusiastic and suggests changing shirts, as if it were a football match. And so it happened. Amin gets the Scottish shirt and Garrigan the decorated military jacket from the new president.

So a great guy, that Amin. At least, that’s how it seems on the surface, and that’s what Garrigan assumes without a doubt. However, there is certainly skepticism about this new dream president. Sarah Merrit (Gillian Anderson), the wife of a fellow doctor, with whom he briefly works in a village, has questioned all his beautiful promises from Amin’s opening speech and also questions whether Garrigan really does his job and the African people. can serve well when suddenly bombarded into the president’s doctor. But in addition to being a doctor and a friend, he actually becomes Amin’s personal assistant, who also appears to be allowed to meddle in politics. In one hilarious scene, he even has to take the place of the president during a meeting. Amin often turns out to be so impressionable as a child, and sometimes literally asks for a tight hand in Garrigan’s advice. Whitaker perfectly captures the nuances of his character, from his relative innocence to his transformation into a monster. Although, there is of course an overlap with regard to this transformation. Much of the injustice and horror that Amin commits simply remains hidden from Garrigan.

At some point, however, the Scottish doctor can no longer close his eyes to what goes on beneath the surface – after even justifying Amin’s actions by saying that violence must be smothered with violence. His blinders go off and he sees the light forever. His journey is that of the spectator, and at the same time, so it seems to be the case, that of the white and Western world. The criticism leveled at the large role played by the white man in this local film about Uganda – it would not be enough about the actual people involved and their suffering – is without value in this regard, as it is precisely this white, Western man seems to be expressed, portraying him as hopelessly naive. His reflection and enlightenment can then be presented as an urgent message. As a Ugandan fellow doctor puts it, literally: “You have to tell the world about this. They believe you because you are white.” Nevertheless, you can comment on certain risky actions by Garrigan, which seem to have been inserted purely out of necessity for a plot twist, or on the somewhat out of the ordinary last quarter of the film (which is nevertheless interesting in terms of realization – with, for example, a nice Hitchockian voltage generation through a meaningful object). All this, however, does little to diminish the impression that the story, and especially Whitaker’s “tour-de-force” as president Idi Amin, leaves on the viewer.