25th August 2008

Monday DVD Pick-Last King Of Scotland

So this weekend in my Netflix rotation came up the movie “The Last King of Scotland.” No, there’s no Billy Connolly or Mike Myers (”Head, Pants, Now!) but there are a few kilts. It’s actually about Idi Amin who considers himself an honorary Scotsman when he meets a young doctor played by James McAvoy, who I keep getting confused with Jim Sturgess.  Oh well. When I saw the trailer for this movie I wanted to check it out just because of the greatness that is Forest Whittaker.  His performance did not disappoint.

SHORT PLOT SYNOPSIS:The movie is fictional story of Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young Scottish doctor who travels to Uganda and becomes the personal physician to the dictator Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). The movie is based on factual events of Amin’s rule.

OVERALL: Okay, I have to be honest. I got a little bored with this movie and zipped through a few parts here and there however, it was interesting to the see the rise of this dictator and how quickly everything got out of hand and the atrocities that occurred.   As I mentioned earlier, the story is fiction but it’s loosely based on English-born Bob Astles.

RENT IT? Yes because of Forest Whittaker’s Academy Award winning performance and to get a perspective of what happened in Uganda.

UPDATE: From 1977 to 1979, Amin titled himself as His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marsha Al Hadji Doctor Idia Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beast of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa and Uganda in Particular. I think this guy was quite impressed with himself. He died in Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2003.

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