Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-14
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: PAL, Subtitled
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
As the evil Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Forest Whitaker gives an unforgettable performance in The Last King of Scotland. Powerfully illustrating the terrible truth that absolute power corrupts absolutely, this fictionalised chronicle of Amin's rise and fall is based on the acclaimed novel by Giles Foden, in which Amin's despotic reign of terror is viewed through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda in the early 1970s to serve as Amin's personal physician. His outsider's perspective causes him to be initially impressed by Amin's calculated rise to power, but as the story progresses--and as Whitaker's award-worthy performance grows increasingly monstrous--The Last King of Scotland turns into a pointed examination of how independent Uganda (a British colony until 1962) became a breeding ground for Amin's genocidal tyranny. As Whitaker plays him, Amin is both seductive and horribly destructive--sometimes in the same breath--and McAvoy effectively conveys the tragic cost of his character's naiveté, which grows increasingly prone to exploitation. As directed by Kevin Macdonald (who made the riveting semi-documentary Touching the Void), this potent cautionary tale my prompt some viewers to check out Barbet Schroeder's equally revealing documentary General Idi Amin Dada, an essential source for much of this film's authentic detail. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
Forest Whitaker delivers an Oscar-winning, ferociously commanding performance as bloodthirsty Ugandan president Idi Amin in Kevin MacDonald’s THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Adapted from the novel by Giles Foden, the film recounts Amin’s horrific reign through the eyes of a fictional character, Nick Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young doctor from Scotland who travels to Uganda hoping to do some good. Nick is more sanguine about new president Amin than his counterpart Sarah Merrit (Gillian Armstrong) is, whose experience causes her to be sceptical of Amin’s bombastic declarations. After an automobile accident, Nick is called in to treat the president’s wounds. His authoritative behaviour impresses Amin, who charms Nick into becoming his personal physician. Nick embraces his newfound life of luxury, but he is unable to grasp the reality of the situation. When he does finally realise the atrocities Amin is inflicting upon his people (and is also capable of inflicting on Nick), the terrified doctor tries to make a frantic escape before it's too late. MacDonald, director of the acclaimed documentaries ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER and TOUCHING THE VOID, makes a startlingly assured transition into fictional filmmaking with THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Working with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (THE CELEBRATION) and editor Justine Wright, MacDonald brings 1970s Uganda to pulsating life, perfectly recreating that tumultuous era. But ultimately the film belongs to Whitaker: as he shifts from charming to maniacal in the space of a short, unexpected breath, he infuses Amin with startling humanity.

Customer Reviews

Ugandan discussions
This is a film of two halves. Forrest Whittaker as Idi Amin is an astonishing performance that takes one back to the real man; he imposes himself physically and mentally on the whole film. How unfortunate therefore that so much of the film is James McAvoy smirking fit to bust and playing a thoroughly unbelievable character very loosely based on a much more interesting real person. I am not sure if it is the script or the actor who is to blame, or whether no-one would prevail alongside Whittaker, but sadly it misses opportunities while tantalising with what it could have been.

Overhyped!
This is a well over-hyped film about Idi Amin Dada(played by Forest Whtaker) the lunatic leader of Uganda who self-promoted himself to General among other things and tells the story of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) a young Scotsman who has just qualified as a Doctor and who decides where he wants to work in the world on the spin of a globe in his bedroom.He becomes personal physician to Amin after a short spell working in a local Ugandan hospital which is over-run with work which doesn't appeal to him.Also one of the 2 doctors, played by Gillian Anderson obviously doesn't drop her pants quick enough which causes him to seek the job with Amin. Amin gradually becomes more detached from reality but not without reason.The reverse of the DVD cover states:contains strong violence,gruesome images,sex and language.I would say possibly there was 1 scene of "something".

Things fall apart
Like many other people, I found Forest Whitaker's performance compelling and disturbing. I think James McAvoy's character suffer by comparison, although he plays it well enough and is good to look at, he is in many ways merely a plot device. It's one of the few films I have seen recently where I have felt compelled to watch the extras - Whitaker's mixed emotions about portraying an African as a monstrous dictator, Jon Snow's insights into Britain's complicity and hypocrisy, the very mixed opinions of the Ugandan people themselves about the man. One other reviewer senses some Anglophobia but I think there is a more subtle undermining of sweeping generalisations (no Scottish people are racist, for example, because they have suffered British imperialism), although I must admit, that short of casting Alan Rickman dressed as Snape, the British Embassy figure could have scarcely been more dislikable. The strength of this film is that it portrys a character who is seen as a caricature in the West as very human; it's weakness may be that in doing this it plays down the many atrocities for which he was responsible. But like Leonard Cohen said when describing the average height, build and intelligence of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichman - 'what did you expect? Talons? Huge incisors?'