by E.J. Friedman

Created on: February 07, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

"You are like my own son," says Idi Amin to Nicholas Garrigan, the fictional Scottish doctor whose journey is portrayed in the movie The Last King Of Scotland. These seem strange words from an African dictator to a white Scottish doctor. But these mere words could change at any moment, a realization that resonates with Garrigan throughout this stunning film interpretation of the award-winning 1996 novel by Giles Foden which, while inspired by true events, is not a true story.

The story follows Doctor Garrigan's strange meeting and vital relationship to the embattled Ugandan dictator in the early years of Amin's presidency. From simple village doctor to becoming one of Amin's right-hand men, the plight of Dr. Garrigan's involvement with and eventual escape from Idi Amin is portrayed with an unsettling realism that highlights factual events and occurrences during Amin's reign of terror. Throughout the film, Garrigan's role is ever-shifting, from doctor to advisor to protectorate. Some even take to calling Garrigan "Amin's White Monkey", a moniker which drives home one of the film's underlying themes: the contrast of a white man in a country and culture ruled and dominated by Africans.

Stark complications begin to unfold as Garrigan becomes a part of Amin's inner circle create an unflinching narrative, painting Amin as a man so consumed with his own power that he does not know in whom to place his trust. For his own part, Dr. Garrigan's youth and naivety lend credibility to Amin's ability to manipulate the young doctor for his own means. But Garrigan, too, though frequently the voice of reason, is taken in by his own youthful indiscretions, allowing himself to be deceived by the violence and torture which surrounds him as a means of maintaining safety in his relations with the dictator.

Forrest Whittaker delivers a tour-de-force performance as Amin, unearthing a mixture of brutality and charm as his emotions turning on a dime with each moment. Much like Amin himself, Whittaker's performance is so unpredictable that it pains one to wonder what will happen next. Certainly one of the best films of 2006, The Last King Of Scotland is without question a highlight to an already brilliant career for Mr. Whittaker.

There are few figures who loom as large in the history of world dicators as Idi Amin and few whose story is such fodder for writers. The Last King Of Scotland can only begin to touch the surface of the story of the leader himself, the genocide which he committed against the Ugandan people, or the lives left tattered by his rule. As a fictional account of a historical figure, The Last King Of Scotland is in a class of its own, leaving its mark on the viewer to ponder how mankind can be powerless over such atrocity.

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