The Last King of Scotland (2006)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Kevin Macdonald

Writers:

Peter Morgan (screenplay) and
Jeremy Brock (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 January 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Charming. Magnetic. Murderous.

Plot:

Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s

Plot Keywords:

Uganda | 1970s | Doctor | Death | Assassination

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 34 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Forest Whitaker	...	Idi Amin
James McAvoy	...	Dr. Nicholas Garrigan
Kerry Washington	...	Kay Amin
Gillian Anderson	...	Sarah Merrit
Simon McBurney	...	Stone
David Oyelowo	...	Dr. Junju
Stephen Rwangyezi	...	Jonah Wasswa
Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga	...	Masanga (as Abby Mukiibi)
Adam Kotz	...	Dr. Merrit
Sam Okelo	...	Bonny
Sarah Nagayi	...	Tolu
Chris Wilson	...	Perkins
Dr. Dick Stockley	...	Times Journalist
Barbara Rafferty	...	Mrs. Garrigan
David Ashton	...	Dr. Garrigan (senior)

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong violence and gruesome images, sexual content and language.

Runtime:

121 min | USA:123 min | Canada:121 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French | German | Swahili

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Singapore:M18 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | South Africa:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Australia:MA | France:-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:16 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Malaysia:18PL (DVD) | Spain:13 | Japan:R-15 | Brazil:16

Filming Locations:

Kampala, Uganda

Company:

DNA Films

Trivia:

The Last King of Scotland (2006) is a fictional account, but one which incorporates real events.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene where the President and the Doctor travel to Entebbe airport in the soft-top Mercedes and are ambushed - two white Bedford trucks block them to the front and the rear. The trucks are AWD Bedford's with a silver AWD logo mounted on the front. AWD took over Bedford trucks only in 1989 some 10-years after Amin was removed from Uganda (in 1979)

Quotes:

[first lines]
Nicholas Garrigan: Come on! Are youse ready?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2006-09-30)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

The Last Scottish Rite 1-4

Another Manipulation of a Historic Event with Magnificent Performance of Forest Whitaker

In 1970, the just-graduated doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) moves to Uganda to get rid of his conservative father. While working in a mission in the country, he meets the new President Idi Amin Dada (Forest Whitaker) after the coup-d'é-tat that overthrow the former government. He is invited to become his personal physician in Kampala and along the years he sees how despotic his friend is.

I personally hate the manipulation Hollywood loves to do with historic events. I have recently seen a good movie, "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus", with a "pseudo-biography" of a real woman. The same happens with "The Last King of Scotland" where the lead and most important character, the despicable Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, is absolutely fictional. His character leaves his family, tries to have an affair with the wife of his friend, becomes friend of a bloody dictator and has an affair with his wife. Therefore, the situations are not the dramatization of true events, but only a soap-opera with the image that the writer wants to give to Idi Amin Dada in the story. My question is why he needs to use the name of Idi Amin Dada, and not an also fictional dictator of an African country inspired in the real President of Uganda? The way this movie is conducted I believe many people will believe that it was based on the biographies of Idi Amin and "Nicholas Garrigan", like a documentary, and not in an imaginary crap of a British writer. However, the story is engaging, well directed and acted, and Forest Whitaker has a magnificent performance and resembles to the real Idi Amin. Gillian Anderson is almost impossible to be recognized, thinner and with a long blond hair. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Último Rei da Escócia" ("The Last King of Scotland")