Cinema - The Last King of Scotland

Sometimes an otherwise so-so film is made watchable by a towering acting performance. This is the case with The Last King of Scotland, a political thriller based on the novel by Giles Foden, about the relationship between the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and a fictitious Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) who becomes one of his chief advisors after his successful coup in 1971. The film’s title refers to one of the many honours Amin bestowed upon himself once he reached power. The great performance - rewarded in countless award ceremonies including the Oscars - is by Forest Whittaker, who brilliantly portrays the many moods of Amin, who we watch rise to power and then viciously abuse it as it increasingly goes to his head. Whittaker has been handed a dream role - almost Shakespearian in its intensity - and he plays it to the full. He is frighteningly believable as Amin, responsible for the death of up to half a million Ugandans.

This, though, is a thriller, and the film-makers stray from the plot of the novel by adding a deadly element of love interest: the doctor starts having an affair with one of Amin’s wives, with dire consequences. This clumsily-inserted McGuffin ups the pace, and heralds a breathless and increasingly implausible ending to the movie. It also detracts from the main moral theme of the original novel: would you, as the doctor does, sit back and take no action as your employer piled horror onto horror? A flawed movie, then. But one that’s worth watching if you appreciate great acting. DL