The last king of Scotland

So they were still making great films 10 years ago… The reason I picked this movie is my utmost admiration of Forest Whitaker as an actor and my genuine curiosity for the title. Well, it turns out I was not disappointed. Whitaker’s performance fairly granted him the academy award for impersonating the ruthless Ugandan dictator Idid Amin in the 70s. The film starts casually giving the impression to the unsuspected viewer this is going to be some sort of light parody almost like Cohen’s Dictator. However, as the sequences of events progresses things get much much darker. Putting it in simple terms: don’t eat while you are watching. Note that the film makers claim that most major parts were historically accurate. I don’t want to spoil anything but I will say I was moved by the last scene, where the personal physician of Amin, Nicolas, the second main character after him, realizes the ultimate nature of his actions. He was a Scotsman doctor who came to Uganda for voluntary work but ended up being the right hand of the oppressive leader. Of course the whole set up resembles the classic figure of abusive power in the works of Sophocles and Shakespeare with Creon and Macbeth respectively. Maybe that was the idea behind this title.

Α.Δ.