What an electrifying film! Forest Whitaker grabs you by the shoulders and seizes you with his ferociously absorbing performance as the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. It's no fluke; this act led him to grab this year's Best Actor Oscar gold, and if you are telling me that Peter O'Toole deserved some respect for his eight nomination but still got no win, I have to hold you by your shoulder instead, and seize you to take a look at Whitaker. This man's got nothing to hold back and astoundingly let his talents take control. The Last King of Scotland is in fact a performance-driven movie, and also a gripping thriller of politics, humanity and power.

Based on true people and events, The Last King of Scotland paints the portrait of the infamous dictator of Uganda in the past decades through the eyes seen by a Scottish doctor, Nicholas Gallaghan (James McAvoy). Like an old teenage film, the movie started in the gloomy landscapes of Scotland loch where Nicholas was running into the lake, celebrating the graduation bliss, and after setting his mind straight, he randomly selected Uganda as his destination after pointing his finger aimlessly at an Earth globe model. Everything was then cut, stripped off of the cold climate, and were thrown in the hot and intense The Constant Gardener atmosphere under Uganda's sun where Nicholas would soon face his most dreadful ordeal. In a chain of events, he became Idi Amin's personal doctor and soon became his "closest adviser". Amin admitted if he wasn't born Ugandan and was given a chance to choose a nationality, he would choose being a Scotsman, thus explaining the innucuous title (apparently clearing off confusions of why the heck the ex-President of Uganda was called the last King of Scotland). Amin regarded Scottish as the courageous warriors and the heroic races, setting the sights into his own reign as a dictator. As though it felt like a John Le Carre plot, political lies were told and betrayal ensues. Idi Amin, who captures the people by his strong charm, his fierce and fiery wit, and sweeps the people's feet by his words, was more than just a big corpulent man. Nicholas soon discovers about a bigger conspiracy hidden between the soils of Uganda; people were killed, children were slaughtered, anyone that rises up against the administration was unjustly bereft of life. Even his wives (yes he's polygamous), in which one attempted to have an outside affair with Nicholas, was Hostel-ed - er - killed savagely that would make Eli Roth proud of the uncanny scene.

Neither does The Last King of Scotland pleases or annoys audiences, Whitaker and McAvoy's performances are worth the tickets. The brilliant and uncompromising Whitaker is never afraid to portray such comical but at the same time cruel, inhumanely unforgiving and pernicious character such as Amin. But he portrays the role driven with power, force and a narrow view in the world, which makes Amin reasonably forfeited of his life. We just don't care if Whitaker's saliva are all over the screen when he talks, all that matters is we see him in the screen and he's perfect at doing it. McAvoy, a Scottish actor, apparently unknown to some, gives a new light to his career and he splendidly tantamounts Whitaker's fierceness. His Dr Gallaghan gathers sympathy amidst his weakness, and until he opens his eyes and realises that Amin is not what he thought to be, he struggles for his life and we just wanted to help him escape in the last scenes. Without him, maybe the world may not know what was really happening in Uganda those days.

This Oscar and BAFTA-feted film may not be a moving experience but its ferocity staggers. Whitaker indeed gave a performance of his life, and McAvoy solidly built some good foundation for his career in the future. Kevin McDonald, an amateur British director for his first film, definitely holds this by the throat and gave it the elements it deserved. Good film, and cleverly entertaining.


Rating: A-