The Last King of Scotland – 2006 – Kevin Macdonald
(Bio Friday)
“I know who you are and what you are. I am you!” – Idi Amin
The Last King of Scotland is a based on true events story depicting the rise of the very real Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) through the point of view of a fictional Scottish physician Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy).
Nicholas has just graduated from medical school and decides to leave Scotland to get a bit of adventure (plus get away from the judgemental tone of his father). After picking it randomly on a globe he heads off to Uganda[i].
At first Nicholas is stationed with an English couple who run a bare-bones field clinic. The physician husband is boring, but his wife Sarah (Gillian Anderson) piques Nicholas’ interest. It’s not long before their having an affair, while nothing much else happens in their remote location. The locals are dubious of these white strangers and for the most part prefer to take medical advice from the existing healers they know.
Things change when Nicholas has a chance encounter with Idi Amin and his men on a motorway. Amin has had an accident and hurt his hand. Nicholas steps in to bandage him up and then further impresses Amin by ‘dealing with’ a wounded animal at the side of the road.
Then Amin finds out that Nicholas is from Scotland and that settles it; he offers Nicholas a job as his personal physician, and with the mildest trepidation Nicolas takes the gig.
And I say mildest because, let’s not kid ourselves, Nicholas left Scotland to have as much fun and free reign as possible. Nicholas knows that there’s something Faustian about this bargain he’s taking – Amin is clearly not averse to violence, he did fight alongside Scottish solders against the Mau Mau – but look at what is on offer…
The grounds of Amin’s compound in the capitol city of Kampala are lush and beautiful.
Yes, it’s surrounded by gates and armed men – but inside it’s modern, and filled with booze and women and good times. It’s a far cry from life in that field hospital. And Amin himself is so charismatic and funny, while also taking his self-appointed role of “Father of Uganda” seriously – why look a gift horse in the mouth?
Nicholas makes the choice to shelter himself from how this oasis came to be, and thus he’s able to gleefully take his pleasures from it[ii]. And isn’t that the crux of colonialism?
But Nicholas’ willful ignorance cannot hold as he sees Amin become increasingly erratic and violence growing in the streets. Amin’s regime of fear and paranoia is murdering all opposition.
Nicholas comes to see that swapping in Idi Amin for a father-figure was a really bad idea, and tries to go home. But Amin wants him to stay.
The Last King of Scotland is a powerful film with powerful performances. Forest Whitaker’s Amin is a tour-de-force. He conveyed Amin’s charm and managed to make me empathise with his paranoid point of view. It was also clear that Amin can see the dark side of Nicholas’ nature – a side that Nicholas is too afraid to confront in himself.
I would be remiss if I did not point out the moving portrayal of Kay by Kerry Washington. Kay is one of Amin’s wives who just wants her children to survive the cut-throat political maneuverings of Amin’s inner circle.
This film is not for the faint of heart – it is graphically violent[iii], but not pointlessly so. Film director Kevin Macdonald is from the documentary world[iv] and that made a real difference in the way this film communicates its intentions.
It made me think about the things I ignore, just to get by.
Recommended.
Forest Whitaker looks back at the film: https://ew.com/news/2018/07/21/forest-whitaker-idi-amin-last-king-scotland/
