Date:01/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/01/stories/2007040101820200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

A cracker of a political tale

The Last King of Scotland (English)

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Cast: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Gillian Anderson, Kay Washington

THE LATEST in a spate of films on the turmoil in the African continent, The Last King of Scotland, is also one of the best of lot for its unique ability to accurately recreate the surreal mindscape that was the result of the violent cohesion between Uganda's and Africa's pre- and post-colonial situations.

Masterfully directed from a script by Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan that steers away from some of the more graphic parts of the original Giles Foden novel, The Last King of Scotland achieves its intended result primarily from Forest Whitaker's performance as dictator Idi Amin that is every bit as brilliant as hype has suggested.

At points, the role of James McAvoy as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scotsman who gets drawn into Amin's web as a personal physician and later his closest advisor — beginning with adorable naiveté, moving into a state of denial and finally reaching a state of odious powerlessness — puts forth a satire of the white man's dream to find adventure, riches and much more at little personal loss.

R.M.