Moviola > Films > The Last King of Scotland

The Last King of Scotland  (15)  121 mins

"Charming.  Magnetic.  Murderous."

Fresh out of medical school, naive young Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy, also to be seen on Moviola screens this season in the very different Becoming Jane) arrives in 1970s Uganda hoping for sun, fun, and to lend a helping hand. A chance encounter with the country's newly installed leader Idi Amin leads to an offer to become the dictator's personal physician.  At first Garrigan is seduced by Amin's charming personality and ambitious plans for his country, not to mention the glamorous parties, fast cars and beautiful women that go with the job.  He becomes Amin's confidant, and is gradually drawn into increasingly horrific events in which he may himself be complicit.  Trapped in the moral abyss of Amin's megalomania, Garrigan nearly loses his soul.  But when he finally dares to try to stop the insanity, he winds up in a desperate fight for survival.  Deftly mixing fact and fiction, the film draws two unforgettable portraits: one of a charismatic but psychopathic ruler who ravaged his country, and the other of a witness to history who finally finds the courage to make a stand.  Forest Whitaker won the Best Actor award at both Baftas and Oscars for his mesmerising portrayal of Idi Amin.

"Erstwhile documentary maker Kevin Macdonald (Touching The Void) directs with white-knuckle urgency, handling the switch from character drama to out-and-out thriller (including scenes of a grisly nature) with an assurance that papers over the story's implausibilities. But he'd still have given us our money's worth if he'd merely switched the camera on, thanks to Whitaker's scarily seductive, force-of-nature portrayal." BBCi Films

"A thoroughly enjoyable, confident, dramatically satisfying movie."  Peter Bradshaw

www.foxsearchlight.com/lastkingofscotland

Last modified: 20-Jun-2008

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