The Last King Of Scotland: A Psychopath In Command Of Uganda
The film The Last King of Scotland creates a portrait of the famous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada. He came to power in the country after a coup in 1971 and became a bloodthirsty and cruel dictator over the next decade.
It is estimated that up to half a million people were killed by his regime. The last king of Scotland avoids reviewing in depth Amin’s gravest crimes, including his tribal genocides. At one point during his dictatorship, his henchmen dumped so many bodies into the Nile that they clogged a hydroelectric dam.
It seems that this dictator was created, at least in part, by the British government. This shadow government is represented in the film by the diplomat Stone, played by actor Simon McBurney. This politician is content to see a brutal but eligible and pro-British man, who will function as a bulwark against communism in Africa.
Kevin Macdonald makes his film debut with this adaptation of Giles Foden’s novel, which tells the fictional story of the ruler of Africa. The bloodstained joker of 300,000 Ugandans. In the title role, a Forest Whitaker in full acting exuberance. The kind of performance that you’re ashamed to admit you’ve enjoyed minute by minute.
The Last King of Scotland : A Scottish Doctor and the Ugandan Dictator Meet
In an incredible twist of fate, the young Scottish doctor Garrigan ends up on a medical mission in Uganda. Tired of routine and parental impositions, he ventures to practice his profession where there is hardly any presence of her. Although his intentions are noble at first, everything programmed in his trip becomes irreversibly entangled.
After a minor car accident, Idi Amin is impressed by the brash attitude of the young Scotsman at a time of crisis in which the young doctor is treating him for an injury. The newly appointed Ugandan President Amin chooses him as his personal physician and closest confidant.
Garrigan is young, but not innocent, and dangerously excited to witness General Amin’s populism shortly after a coup has brought him to power.
Something in Amin’s demagoguery responds to a temporary insanity in Garrigan. The adventurer neglects his main objective, to practice medicine, to seek sensations in a territory where everything seems exciting to him.
Although Garrigan is initially flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon becomes aware of Amin’s savagery. Horror and betrayal occur when Garrigan tries to correct his mistakes and get away from the dictator, who is then revealed as a true psychopath.
A psychopath does not understand friendship
In The Last King of Scotland the camera zooms in on the character of Amin with an approach that reflects the truth of the psychopath. Mediocrity, ridicule and complete lack of personality, supplemented by an inflated superficial charm. An incessant verbiage that does not say anything interesting, but reveals his ability to lie without limits.
Whitaker gives Amin mood swings along with seductive smiles, paranoia and childish fears. There is continuous intimidation from those around him. The dictator provokes nervous smiles from his group of courtiers who know they could be attacked at any moment.
His anger is terrifying. His haunting gaze is that of a predator. Machismo overflows in history. His submissive wives are only endowed with the quality of giving birth and thus demonstrate the virility and strength of the dictator.
Friendship with the Scottish white
There is a love story that makes the lurid fate of Amin’s third wife Kay intertwine with that of Garrigan himself. Their secret romance culminates in the two most gruesome scenes of violence in the film. At last the carnage and sadism of his government system is uncovered, against his wife and her confidant.
The Last King of Scotland is a fascinating satire on a white character who wants to naively explore black history. There are many historical examples of naive travelers trying to do good, only to find that it is out of reach.
A white Scottish doctor who goes to Africa to work for a medical mission, in search of new emotions, is dismayed by being a witness and an accomplice in Amin’s crimes. A metaphor for the ridicule of many European associations that support the totalitarian African states but do not want to witness the terror they cause.
The film shines with charismatic performances and is full of freshness, but not too deep. It provides a story that is intelligent enough for the viewer to be convinced that the film really has something to say. For Forest Whitaker’s Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA performance alone, this is a film worth seeing.
