The Last King of Scotland

24 December 2018

The Last King of Scotland

• Director: Kevin Macdonald
• Based on the novel by Giles Foden
• Cast: Forest Whittaker, James McAvoy, Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington, Simon McBurney, David Oyelowo
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Forest Whittaker – Arrival, The Butler, Repo Men, The Great Debaters, Smoke, The Crying Game, Bird, Platoon, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• James McAvoy – X Men Days of Future Past, Victor Frankenstein, Filth, The Last Station, Wanted, Atonement, Becoming Jane, Starter for 10, Macbeth Retold, Inside I’m Dancing, Bright Young Things
• Gillian Anderson – The X Files, The Fall, Continuum (I’ll Follow You Down), Great Expectations, Bleak House, Tristram Shandy
• Kerry Washington – The Miracle at St. Anna, The Dead Girl, The Human Stain
• Simon McBurney – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Robin Hood, Bright Young Things, Kafka
• David Oyelowo – Interstellar, The Butler, The Help, Small Island, The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, As You Like It, Derailed
• Why? Forest Whittaker
• Seen: 22 December 2018      

       Oh! And James McAvoy is in it. We just saw him in a film yesterday. Here he plays Nicholas Garrigan, a newly graduated doctor, who is so desperate to get away from his oppressive father that he closes his eyes, points to the globe and ends up in Uganda. In 1970. Idi Amin (Whittaker) has just won a war of liberation with the enthusiastic support of the people. Nicholas is enthusiastic too. Sarah (Anderson), the other doctor’s wife, is not. She has seen other liberators become dictators.

       Nicholas is charming and naïve and chance once again changes his life. He becomes the personal physician to President Idi Amin.

       The President is seductive and charismatic. Nicholas becomes embroiled in politics, family dramas, Amin’s bribery and demanding friendship, colonial manipulations. He witnesses assassination attempts, Amin’s growing paranoia, madness and violence.

       Nicholas Garrigan is a fictional character. Much of what happens in the film we know is historically true but it is just a film, a kind of political thriller. It is very suspenseful, a skilful weaving of fact and fiction. Whittaker deserves his Oscar. McAvoy could have got one too.

       But it’s not a film to love.

4 * of 5