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The Last King Of Scotland [2006] | ![The Last King Of Scotland [2006]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AoUfSqaCL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Kevin Macdonald
Actors: James Mcavoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, David Oyelowo, Kerry Washington
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy Used: £2.63
You Save: £17.36 (87%)
New (23) Used (10) Collectible (1) from £2.63
Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 932
Format: Pal, Subtitled
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5039036030922
ASIN: B000NQRW52
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: May 14, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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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 naivete, 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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 The Last King Of Scotland May 30, 2007
Mr. S. J. Downing (Devon, UK)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
James McAvoy plays Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, who is fresh out of medical college in the 1970s. Nicholas thoroughly dreads following in his dour father's footsteps, a life to be spent working in a Scottish general practice. Driven by the urge to get away, he spins a globe and randomly stabs a finger, which lands on the sub-Saharan country of Uganda.
There Nicholas meets the newly self-installed president of the country, General Idi Amin. During a meeting between the two, where Nicholas treats an injury picked up by Amin during an accident, the dictator finds out that Nicholas is Scottish. Prompted by his love of all things Highland, Amin sweeps the young and impressionable Scot into the inner circle of his government before Nicholas has time to consider the danger signs.
Gillian Anderson, who lays on a near fautless British accent not for the only time in her career, is sadly underused to the point of irrelevance. Playing a veteran health worker who has seen the likes of Amin before, she tries to warn Nicholas of the dangers of getting swept along by the dictator's charisma, but to no avail.
Forest Whitaker's performance as Amin is stellar. A kind of black Josef Stalin, he dominates every scene he's in, his moods swinging with paranoid sharpness and his trust shattering at so much as a perceived funny look from an underling.
Viewers should know that there are two extremely unpleasant scenes at the end of the film. These come as even more of a shock after Nicholas has spent so much of the story revelling in the Ugandan high-life, only becoming aware of his patron's evil excesses once they reach their worst depths.
The highlights of the film are, again, Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin, and the colour, music and tribal pageantry of Ugandan life, before the dictator's brutality brought the country to its knees, shown in all its glory.
I only learned after the fact that James McAvoy's character is entirely fictional. This is a shame because the film might have made a superb primer to the history, culture and personality of the region had The Last King Of Scotland shown life in Amin's government from the perspective from someone who had actually been there.
Nevertheless, this is a cut way, way above most of the dross that clutters the shelves of your local DVD store. Be prepared for the nastiness in the film's closing quarter, but by all means, don't overlook it.
Chilling January 23, 2008
Alma (Italy)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The performance of Forest Whitaker left me speechless. There is SO MUCH I'd wish to say for it, but I'm lost for words! A chilling film about the 70's president of Uganda, the charmer-monster Idi Amin. As a story, it could easily stand for many of the developing world's dictators. James McAvoy was superb as Amin's physician portraying the naive, impressionable youth who gradually undergoes a transformation as he discovers the sinister reality behind his boss's charms. His extremely young looks stretch the credibility of such a boy having actually graduated from medical school, but his outstanding performance makes up for it.
Hard to watch at the end, with the brutality of Amin and his henchmen reaching monstrous proportions. But precisely because the movie was not filled with scenes of violence, but rather spread them out in gradual doses over the second half, escalating towards the end, that made them all the more harrowing. Again, as for Forest Whitaker, I cannot say enough for his performance, maybe simply that it was pure genius.
Deserves every accolade October 17, 2007
sam155 (Gloucestershire)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
I was gripped by this film within minutes of it beginning. Not a scene is wasted. It opens with a brief montage in which we see Nicholas' carefree life and graduation in Britain. He graduates with such idealism and hope that he randomly ends up going to Uganda where he feels his medical skills are most needed. This provides both a contrast and an explanation for his later behaviour when he is swaddled in luxury and privelege by his benefactor, Idi Amin.
I knew somehting of Amin's rule as I was growing up and I remember being surprised in 2003 on hearing that he had died- I thought he had died many years previously. I had heard rumours of his cannibalism and rumours of his outrageous faxes to our Queen headed "Dear Liz". What this film, and Forest Whitaker demonstrates so ably is that Amin was a deadly combination of total evil and a child like fun loving charm. Towards the end Dr Nicholas tells him that he is a child in a man's body and that's what makes him so dangerous.
Nicholas (superbly played by James Macavoy), being an idealist himself, is seduced by new leader Amin's idealism and is carried along by the attention Amin lavishes on him. As his tenure under Amin unfolds, there are warning signs that all is not as it seems and soon Nicholas finds colleagues disappearing and the British diplomats warning him of the dangers of his position. It is not until it is almost too late that Nicholas' eyes are opened to the true evil of which Amin is capable. Towards the end there are two scenes in particular that are extremely, shockingly grisly but it is to the director's credit that such gore is not exposed randomly or gratuitiously throughout. The ending is appropriate in many ways and that is all I will say.
Forest Whitaker fully deserved his Oscar. He displays the kind of loyalty inspiring charisma that helps to explain how such an evil man gained power. He is big too, as Amin was, towering above all his soldiers. Macavoy is perfectly cast as the pretty boy charmer who, carried away with his own bit of power, makes his own mistakes too. A fantastic film that will stay with me for a very long time.
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE'S, MISS IT-MISS OUT! July 11, 2007
K. bruce (U.K)
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
**WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS TOWARD THE END**
To miss this movie based on some of the reviews it has received would be a crime! you need to get the film and watch it yourself, entering into the world of "the last king of Scotland" with an open, clear mind. indeed i am not very well educated in the topic of history and politics therefore i
did not get the same lack lustre feelings as others did toward the fictional character of mcavoy. at first i though this film was nothing but a mere political comedy-having no idea what it was about! but boy was i wrong! i was soon on the edge of my seat gripped by the horror that the movie suddenly plunged me into! given that i did not even know of the character that Whittaker was playing, i am glad now that i have a little insight into the character that he was, eccentric and a little crazy as some may put it, although i can't seem to dislike him given the performance given by Whiticar, even when he is at his cruelest and most twisted state of mind. i find myself agreeing with another reviewer who stated that they felt nothing for the Scottish doctor, as i seemed to feel more sympathy for the president, feeling that he once had good intentions but became delusional and paranoid, which could happen to any of us given that much power, which i also feel was an intentional move by the white men of power who put him there as is suggested in the film, even though part fictional, the war on racism has never and will never end and i can't help but feel he was put there in that position deliberately in the hope that he would self destruct and take out a few thousand fellow brothers with him.
(SPOILER PARAGRAPH BELOW)
the person i felt sorry for in the end was the guy who helped the doctor escape, he could have let him die but instead risked his life for him and for the truth to be known, which i found very touching. another scene that really shocked me, (emotionally- because i love romantic endings! and this just kills off that idea!) and sent shudders down my spine was the way in which the presidents wife's dead body was displayed! whoa! that was creepy, in a voodoo type of way, i got the creeps just for looking!
(^^^END SPOILER PARAGRAPH^^^)
i also felt that Gillian Anderson's character would have some significance or would come in to help at some point but she did nothing and barely featured, it did make her seem a bit, pointless.
none the less this film is well worth watching, definitely not "one to avoid" as some may state, Whittaker's performance was absolutely outstanding, i completely forgot who he was as he was so convincing in his role, he brought the president (sorry can't remember his name) across with integrity, comical moments demonstrating his utter weirdness, and passion and conviction in every second he was on screen! excellent!
Last King of Scotland April 26, 2007
ray dorrity (New Forest, UK)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Watching this movie transported me back 30 odd years in time.
Forest Whitaker IS Idi Amin.
I can remember watching the real Amin being interviewed on TV in the '70's and thinking that he just seemed a likeable bafoon. Whitaker catches his every expression, even down to the silly smile Amin had.
I've always liked Whitaker since seeing him in the likes of "Good Morning Vietnam" (playing an American soldier) and "The Crying Game" (playing a British soldier).
Whitaker is probably the best Black actor around and deserved his Oscar.
Get the movie and ENJOY!
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