Based on the acclaimed novel by Giles Foden, ‘The Last King of Scotland’ weaves a tale of fact and fiction detailing the mythical character of Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish med grad, who while on a mission of mercy to Uganda falls into favor with the infamous Ugandan strongman Idi Amin.  Similar to most novels that are transformed into films, changes were made to Foden’s novel to make it more ‘moviegoer friendly’, with the most significant change being that of the central character of Nicholas Garrigan.  In the novel, Garrigan is a dour middle aged man swept away with the thought of having some worth as bestowed upon him by Amin, after considering himself worthless for so long.  Contrast this to the films version of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) who is a young fresh med school graduate who has a complete lack of control over his libido and reacts to situations in ways that will not make any sense to anyone.  I will assume they changed the character to appeal to younger audiences, as if they would actually go see a movie such as this in the first place.  Not that this is a bad movie, because it’s not, but I would have preferred that they maintained the integrity of the text from which it was based, as opposed to bastardizing it for the ‘Jackass’ crowd. 

No further discussion of ‘The Last King of Scotland’ can occur without mention of Forest Whitaker’s landmark performance of Idi amin.  Imagine the film you would have if you could shove heavyweight Academy Award winning (or nominated) actors, Sean Penn, Nicholas Cage and Forest Whitaker into it.  Oh wait, it’s been done already and it was called ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’.  I should have remembered that earlier, but for some reason one single scene clouds my already convoluted brain when I think of that film.  But back to Mr. Whitaker.  If Idi Amin

was at once charming but frightening, paranoid but careless, emphatic but clueless, honorable but heartless, then Whitaker nailed the dude.  Whitaker managed to infuse Amin with enough humanity that almost any atrocity he may have done, he had, in his mind, a justifiable valid reason that you almost had to at least stop and question ‘well…?’  He has managed to transform the caricature of Idi Amin, the Ugandan Cannibal, murderer, genocidal lunatic as he was painted by the press at the time, and actually turn him into a real live living, breathing human being.  No small feat I would imagine.

James McAvoy’s Nicholas Garrigan doesn’t fare nearly as well however.  And it’s not because McAvoy is a poor actor or because he mishandled the part.  I’d be willing to bet cash money that he played that part exactly as he was instructed to by director Kevin MacDonald, it’s just that Garrigan was so woefully underwritten that the decisions he made, tragic, horrific, ridiculous decision, made no sense at all.  I know the thought process is that we men think with our penises, but as hard as it may be to believe ladies,  there are limits.  Before Garrigan gets off the bus, he beds a pretty African woman, then he decides he must have Sarah Merrit (Gillian Anderson) the missionary doctor’s wife, who literally has to beat him off of her, and finally, inexplicably, he begins a doomed affair with Kay (Kerri Washington), one of Amin’s wives.  I don’t care how high the woman’s cheekbones are or how nice her butt may be (I need to ask Ms. Washington, should I get the chance to meet her, if that was her nude butt or a stunt butt), sexing a murderous dictators wife, when he’s already delivering as steady stream of strumpets (Alliteration!) to your for your disposal would have to rate as the worst decision of all-time.  To say that it ends badly would be the understatement of the millennium, and of course it set off a series of catastrophic events which results in getting more Ugandans killed, some of whom are assisting Garrigan though he proven time and time again that he warrants no one’s assistance, help, and certainly no one’s pity.

It’s the unevenness of the two characters which ultimately holds ‘The Last King of Scotland’ from achieving the greatness I think that it is reaching for and it causes one wonder that if a book was good enough to warrant someone to drop x-millions of dollars on it to make it into a movie, why change it so drastically?

Still, ‘The Last King of Scotland’ managed to be quite an entertaining yarn buoyed by the outstanding performance from Forest Whitaker.  As such, his performance alone warrants a hearty recommendation.