REVIEW: The Last King of Scotland

Its all over. Just everyone stop campaigning, baiting or pushing for your Oscar, it is only going one way this year. Forest Whitaker gives a showstopping turn here playing Idi Amin, the militarian dictator of Uganda during the 1970s whose reign saw approximately 200,000 die, many of whom were simply murdered for speaking out against his regime. From literally the second scene he's in, when doctor James McAvoy tends to his hand after a car crash, there is no doubt that this is the best performance you will see this year. One thing perhaps to say, is that it is not technically a lead performance, with McAvoy in every scene. But, despite an excellent performance from the Shameless star, Whitaker just rips this away from him. His Amin is charming and funny in early scenes, before we, and the naive doctor, start to witness the true horrors of his regime. That second portion of the film, after the revealing of Amin's tactic of killing all who do not support him, lends the film an inherent tension, based mostly on previous knowledge but helped by the rapid shot of intensity in both events, violence and performances.

Kevin MacDonald (Touching The Void) handles the film beautifully, portraying Amin's poisoned Kingdom with enough seductive attraction that we never feel abhorred by McAvoy's unwavering support of him before Amin reveals his true self. He stages some supreme, lo-fi action set pieces of brutal realism, the closing scenes particularly effective in their astonishing grisly viciousness, finally damning Amin in the coda. Its a performance driven film, only let down by a few touches here and there but spare a thought fo ames McAvoy, who gives a superlative performance but is outshone by a truly towering one from Whitaker. Both perform a feat of making unsympathetic characters lovable and believable and, while one job here is certainly harder than the other, McAvoy asserts himself with a wide-eyed cocky charm that swiftly shifts into betrayed fear in an instant. Not a perfect movie, but a genuinely exciting and fascinating portrayal of one of the 20th Century's defining icons of evil.


Film: The Last King of Scotland
Director: Kevin MacDonald
Plattenspieler Rating: 8.5/10