The Last King Of Scotland (or, Idi up, Forest)

Anyone who has the audacity to grant himself the title "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular" has got to be a brilliant subject for a film. Anyone who manages to wipe out 300,000 people while in power has got to be a brilliant subject for quite a moving film.

The Last King Of Scotland takes on one of the most brutal dictatorships of post-colonial Africa. We are spared most of the gory details (and they were gory) because the story is told through the eyes of a fictional young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Gagarrin. Gagarrin comes to Uganda in an effort to escape his overbearing father (and of course to do some good, as any young medical graduate would). He is only in the country long enough to almost seduce another doctor's wife (played by Gillian Anderson, who is in danger of resurrecting her career if she keeps up these brilliant performances) before he is, in turn, seduced Amin and is asked to take on the role of his personal physician.

Gagarrin is drawn into the high life as Amin's most trusted advisor and it is not until he is in far too deep that he realises Uganda is not the shining light of new Africa that it seemed. Silly boy. To his credit, McAvoy manages to give Gagarrin enough wide eyed optimism to stop him seeming like a completely blinkered rich boy shit. He is still a shit, but he is a likeable shit. And standing there next to him is Forest's Amin. He is a mass murdering demagogue but he is a likeable mass murdering demagogue. Scarily likeable. It is easy to see why Gagarrin falls under his spell, all sweat and smiles.

After the initial set up the film seems to loose a bit of its surehandedness but the final some horrific scenes are gut-wrenchingly tense enough to make up for the lull.

Well worth a visit.