The Last King of Scotland - Movie Review Example

and Number 14 November 2008 The Last King of Scotland The Last King of Scotland was recognized criticallywith Forest Whitaker taking home the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role. The Producers Charles Steel and Executive Producer Lisa Bryer efforts along with Director Kevin MacDonald created an authentic Uganda backdrop where a surreal psychological drama played out. When the movie opens, General Idi Amin leads a coup against President Milton Obote in Uganda. General Idi Amin wins and reigns with authoritarian power. In this world, everything must be questioned to survive, and no one is to be trusted. Safe harbors are far away, and it is only at great personal risks individuals attempt to get there. For most, the journey is hopeless; there is no where to hide or destination to run to in Uganda. It is through characterization, plot, and themes that viewers are lead and eventually dragged violently into the deprived paranoid world of General Idi Amin. There are three profound characters: General Idi Amin, Nicholas Garrigan, and Kay Amin. Forest Whitaker's betrayal of Idi Amin starts to build the psychological drama with the introduction of General Idi Amin. Whitaker the actor is a presence at 6 feet, and, in his portrayal of the dictator, closely resembled him. He has a film history of playing powerful big men. As an actor Whitaker has charisma on screen. The film viewers want to trust and feel safe with him. This adds to the believability of the character, because General Idi Amin is also very charismatic. The magnetic connection that Nicholas Garrigan has to General Idi Amin is compelling. The actor James McAvoy is a compliment to Whitaker's character. He has the power to evoke curiosity, frailty, strength, and manliness in his characters. He showed this same talent when portraying Mr. Tumnus in the screen version of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The combination of the larger than life Whitaker and the frail but manly McAvoy opens the movie with undeniable and effective chemistry. The young Scottish doctor although accomplished academically is very idealist and care free. He shows little forward knowledge of the consequences of his actions. This is a sharp contrast to General Idi Amin who examines, judges, and harshly punishes the action of everyone around him. Nicholas Garrigan came to Uganda to escape from what he views as a boring life. He has the same outlook as young men joining the Army with the promise of adventures and the opportunity to seek a new land vastly different from their home. Like General Idi Amin, he insensitively toys with others. He is womanizer. Nicholas Garrison is enthralled and seductively enticed by the benefits of being in General Idi Amin's inner circle. He has no idea of the consequences or power being a personal physician to a dictator brings. The relationship in the beginning is one of infatuation between General Idi Amin and Nicholas Garrison. General Idi Amin admires the young doctor, because he is Scottish and decisive. He is bold enough without permission to use General Idi Amin's gun to shoot a cow. Again Nicholas Garrigan shows his blindness from consequences of his actions. It is through the plot of the movie that both characters of General Idi Amin and Nicholas Garrigan evolve to where the General's character is fully revealed to Garrigan. He wakes up one day to realize that he loves a monster and has been part of his ghoulish dealings. Garrigan finally realizes that consequences can be deadly. Kay Amin's role is the anchor in the plot. She forces Garrigan to acknowledge the horror that he has created in Uganda, and his role in it. Her relationship, death, and wrongly stitched together body put on public display shocks Garrison. It forces him to conspire with the British. Kay Amin, portrayed by Kerry Washington, catalyst Nicholas Garrigan's epiphany. Without her death, Nicholas could not have understood and felt the full horror or General Idi Amin. Although General Idi Amin eventually kills 300,000 people in Uganda ("Idi Amin" 53), it is Kay Amin's death that bring Nicholas Garrigan to a sober reality. Like the character of Kay, Kerry Washington has a history of bringing strength to her characters, as she did as Della Ray. She has the rage of a woman, who lives in a brutal, fearful relationship. She manages to defy General Idi Amin when Nicholas Garrigan meets her. Her character and beauty embody Uganda. She represents what it could be: beautiful and fertile. Though the youngest wife, Kay's character symbolically is the mother to the children of Uganda. There is irony in the symbolism of her character and the plot. Kay Amin is considered a traitor to Uganda for her affair with a foreign white man. She is executed brutally for this, but Nicholas Garrigan knows that she is really killed for the insult to her husband. Up to the death of Kay Amin, Nicholas can not reconcile the conflict he feels of admiration for General Idi Amin and the brutality of his actions. Nicholas Garrigan has clues, as he interact with other characters that there is a problem with General Idi Amin. After Nicholas Garrigan tells General Idi Amin he is suspicious of his advisor, the General has the advisor murdered. Nicholas is unable even then to fully understand the consequences of his action, even though General Idi Amin tells him not to play innocent. A British official confronts Nicholas Garrigan, but he still clings to his innocence and noninvolvement with the crimes. After Kay Amin's death, Nicholas Garrigan clearly realizes the power he has being in General Idi Amin's inner circle. He knows how close he is to the head of the snake and will do anything to escape from him, including poisoning him. The actors interaction with each other where a vital part of the movie. In the end, the character performances and conflicts kept the movie interesting and the plot moving. In addition, the plot was equally enhanced by the locations, lighting, score, and costumes in the movie. In one of the last scenes in the airport, where Nicholas Garrigan is tortured, a historical hostage crisis took place. This crisis in the movie was moved up to the same time as Nicholas Garrigan attempt to assassinate General Idi Amin ("Behind" 14). This increased the intensity of the plot and provided small hope that distracted the General would not pay as close attention to Nicholas Garrigan. True to his character, General Idi Amin didn't miss the betrayal. Amidst this shot of adrenalin in the plot, the airport was much darker then other key scenes. In the beginning of the movie, the country was bright and hopeful. The score was joyous with native singers, which celebrated the coup of General Idi Amin. Moreover, the locations chosen were a different portrait then what is seen in the news ("Behind" 14). Clean children ran and waved by the cars with vibrant colored clothes. The people were happy and wholesome. It was a safe bright place where anyone could prosper. It did not reflect the poverty of Uganda. The filmmakers brought the movie full circle through lighting and location. In the beginning, the possibilities of the great opportunities in Uganda looked endless. By the end of the movie, all of Uganda's ugliness under General Idi Amin's dictatorship was unveiled. Moreover, the mix of dialogue, score, and special effects was complimentary to lighting and location. When a more compelling scene was in progress the creatively placed gun fire or small important sounds like the rattling of the poison medicine were used. The sound of normal everyday life in the country enhanced the scene, as well as the use of current Uganda soldiers dressed in authentic uniforms ("Behind" 14). In fact, the lighting, location, and score reinforced the notion that at times Uganda was like everywhere else in the world. It had its beauty and its troubles. The truth was somewhere in the middle, but this movie had many themes moving through it. The extreme contrast in locations in the countryside and the airport were only one ("Behind" 7). To begin, each of the three profound characters were extremely contradicted. The General had the charisma of loving and caring individual. He was quick to trust and just as quick to judge. For example, he immediately let Nicholas Garrigan into his inner circle after knowing him a short time. He was a brutal murder, and yet he created the Mulago hospital for his people. He went from being the most loved and honored men to being hated by his people. Nicholas Garrigan wasn't the only one fooled by his faade. He was admired globally until his brutal policies turned the international community against him ("Behind" 13). In the case of Nicholas Garrigan, he was young and idealistic. He became a doctor and could have helped people wherever he lived. He chose Uganda on a whim. He was educated, but refused to see that he was apart of the landscape of Uganda that was affecting people lives. It was only through extreme circumstances that he finally understood his dire situation. Finally, in the case of Kay Amin she was the youngest wife. She had the potential for a long life, but she was killed at an early age. Her character had an extreme contradiction, because she was defiant and submissive at the same time. She took a lover, but she hid him from the wrath of her husband. She was empowered in life as a person who could stand up to her husband, but she lost that power with her own death. Another important theme in the movie was racism. The most powerful statement about racism was at the end of the movie when Nicholas Garrigan was rescued by Dr. Junji. In most cultures a doctor is given a place of respect. The words of a doctor are heavily considered. Dr. Junji does not believe that a black man's words will have the same power. Even though he despises Nicholas Garrigan, he wants him to survive. This is one of the most compelling scenes in the movie. Dr. Junji's despair comes from not believing he could save his people through his own words. The full impact of the cruelty and powerlessness of the people under General Idi Amin was conveyed in that closing moment with Dr. Junji. He was freeing a man he believed deserved to die. He did this to save his people, while he remained muzzled and faced death. In addition, the character of General Idi Amin had a valuable perspective on the foreigners who came to Uganda to offer aid. He thought they came to exploit the people. He thought that the foreigners assumed the people of Uganda were uneducated and ignorant. He took pride in emboding their strength. It is ironic that Idi Amin was "barely literate and left higher education in virtual ruin in a place that was once known as the Harvard of Africa" ("Idi Amin" 53). There were further contradiction, for all his interest in the young Scottish doctor in the beginning, there was a brewing hatred and prejudice against foreigners. The young doctor thought he belonged in Uganda. The General told him he was not allowed to leave, because he was not done helping build Uganda. In the end, General Idi Amin made it obvious he was never truly part of country. He represented an irritation that pledged Uganda instead of helped her. General Idi Amin clumped his hatred of colonialism and English rule together with all foreigners. The very issue of hating English rule that appeared to bond General Idi Amin with Nicholas Garrigan blinded the insane General in the end. The insight by Dr. Junji and General Idi Amin added a valuable depth to the film The Last King of Scotland. They posed questions to movie goers to take home with them and carefully consider about prejudice and foreign intervention. In closing, The Last King of Scotland was powerful. It was effective from beginning to end. The only criticism of that film is that it focused only on the inner circle of General Idi Amin. The people were suffering and they lived in a dirty violent world, because of his policies. This sparsely covered in the movie. However, the films use of character contradictions and choice of actors kept the plot moving and enticing. The plot was a successful combination of historical facts and poetic adjustments that created an adrenalin filled ride that ran the gambit of emotions. Moreover, the complexity of the characters and plot introduced those unfamiliar to Uganda to the beauty and possibilities for prosperity, along with acknowledging of the horrors and the heartbreak that occurred during General Idi Amin dictatorship. It gave voice to Dr. Junji and others, who made sacrifices for Uganda but were silenced. Works Cited "Behind the Scenes." Wild About Movies. Yahoo Search Engine. 13 Nov. 2008 http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/ "Idi Amin, R.I.P. 1925-2003." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 41(2003):53. ProQuest.University of Phoenix online.13 Nov. 2008. Read More