The focus is on Nicholas Garrigan (played by James McAvoy) through most of the opening of “The Last King of Scotland.” We see that he is frustrated with his parents and the lavish lifestyle they lead, as his piercing blue eyes show with a subtle glare that he is sick of being unsure of where his life is going.
To change his life, he decides to go to the first spot that his finger randomly hits on a spinning globe, which turns out to be Uganda. As the main character changes his scenery, the movie changes the direction in which it is headed.
When Nicholas arrives in Uganda, he is greeted by Sarah Merrit (Gillian Anderson). Sarah and Nicholas hit it off right away, as the two characters are both unsure of their lives and are vastly underappreciated by their loved ones.
After attending a government rally where the new Ugandan President, Idi Amin (Forrest Whitaker), promotes his “new government of action, schools and look,” the two are called upon to tend to the sprained hand of Amin after a cow charges the leader. The cow, injured from the event, is put out of its misery by Nicholas, something that Amin takes kindly to.
Amin, with his new respect for the physician, recruits Nicholas to join him as his personal doctor. Despite being forced to leave Sarah behind, Nicholas chooses the lifestyle Amin can offer him, which is strikingly similar to his life prior to leaving for Uganda.
Once Amin enters the plot line, much of the limelight is taken away from Nicholas. This isn’t to say the story isn’t focused on him, but Whitaker’s portrayal of Amin, for which he earned this year’s Academy Award for Best Actor, is literally flawless. Normally cast as a nice or remorseful character, Whitaker fully embodies the man who, by the fall of his regime, had murdered over 300,000 Ugandans.
There were several things that struck me with Whitaker’s performance, one being that he nails the accent dead-on, something that Don Cheadle couldn’t do in “Hotel Rwanda” and that Leonardo DiCaprio ruined in “Blood Diamond.”
Next, his ability to portray someone that can go from a passionate leader who brags about never eating before his soldiers to someone who can think “a man who shows any fear is weak and a slave.” It is quite a different role for Whitaker, and the fact that it is so convincing is a testament to how truly great of a performance it really is.
Convinced that he cannot die, the paranoid and very temperamental dictator eventually gives Nicholas a promotion and makes him his number one adviser. The two form a bond in which they know what the other is thinking without their opinions being voiced, which only helps to foreshadow that Nicholas is doomed to suffer the consequences of eventually being misunderstood by Amin.
Nicholas, finally realizing the lifestyle isn’t worth the consequences, decides to wait until things get really bad to leave the dictator’s side. By that point in the film, it is too late.
The world of Nicholas is crashing down upon him, and the musical score that accompanies his realization of this is spectacular. Everything seems to be his fault, according to Amin, and he is eventually asked to do things he isn’t qualified to do while everyone around him laughs at his silent response.
Nicholas finally realizes he is in an expendable relationship with the dictator and the only way he will be able to live a life worth living is if he leaves the dictator’s side. But because the temperament of Amin is always changing, you never know where the film is truly taking you. Because his moods are unpredictable, whether or not the escape that Nicholas is planning will correlate with his ever-changing moods is a great way in which the film builds up its suspense.
It is a gripping conclusion that doesn’t disappoint. It is both suspenseful and touching at the same time, as both Amin and Nicholas ultimately come full circle in showing the emotions that result from being pushed to the brink. It is an engaging story with engaging characters, and all the elements are present to make it a movie to remember.