Review of The Last King of Scotland (2006) by Chads. — 21 Jan 2007
For me, the most intriguing aspect of "The Last King of Scotland" is the tantalizing possibility that Leni Riefenstahl was telling the truth. Even though "Triumph of the Will" implicates her as a Nazi sympathizer by what's judiciously omitted from the crowd-inciting speeches; Nicholas(James McAvoy) amazingly has no idea about the Ugandian holocaust.
"The Last King of Scotland" has an ingenious way of treating McAvoy's relationship with Idi Amin as a pleasant nostalgic trip, because the young doctor was indeed enamored with the vicious, but charismatic dictator.
If this adaptation is accurate, the real-life McAvoy must be plagued with some residual affection for Amin. Forrest Whitaker does an awesome job of being genuinely congenial without any undercurrent of menace; to do so would make a contemporary audience wonder why the world wasn't onto Amin's act a lot sooner.
This is a powerful, and very smartly photographed film.
This review of The Last King of Scotland (2006) was written by Chads. on 21 Jan 2007.
The Last King of Scotland has generally received very positive reviews.
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