The Last King of Scotland

I originally added this movie to my rental queue because of the reviews, but I moved it up to the top after my roommate and I had a conversation about it. I went into the movie without knowing very much about the historical background so I was interested to see how much I would understand.

Plot: The movie centers around Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a recent graduate from medical school who moves to Uganda so he can apply his skills to helping others. After a chance meeting with the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), Nicholas is asked to be his personal physician and they quickly become friends.

Twist: Nicholas falls in love with one of Amin’s wives…enough said.

Memorable Quote: Girl on Bus: Do you have monkeys in Scotland?
Nicholas: No, but if we did we’d probably deep fry them.

My Thoughts: This movie was very interesting from a historical perspective and Forest Whitaker was very convincing as a crazy dictator. Other than those two things I didn’t find it to be overly interesting. It’s still worth watching, but when it was over I felt more like I’d just seen a dramatic, upbeat documentary.

Who Will Like This Movie: Anybody who enjoys movies about historical events or ruthless dictators.

Rating: 6 out of 10