Thursday, March 18, 2021
The Last King of Scotland
- Commentary: Under construction.
So, I have three reviews for you. The title is linked to one that questions the movie's veracity. Here is a review that simply praises the movie and its motives (and, twice, mispells "ensue" as "ensure") without question. Here is Glenn Erickson's review (of DVD Savant) that treads a moderate, thoughtful path between the two previous reviews.
Finding good reviews of this movie is incredibly hard. Roger Ebert spoke of it many times, reviewed it on his television program, but either didn't write a review or, if he did, it's unavailable. Everywhere.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Forest Whitaker Idi Amin James McAvoy Dr. Nicholas Garrigan Kerry Washington Kay Amin Gillian Anderson Sarah Merrit Simon McBurney Stone David Oyelowo Dr. Junju David Ashton Garrigan Sr. Barbara Rafferty Mrs. Garrigan
I, frankly, find Whitaker's performance and the story riveting, no matter how much of it is fact, or, for that matter, truth.
Here is the Wikipedia write-up on this movie, which, as well, disputes some of the elements of the movie. It even reminds us that the movie is based on a novel and characterizes Giles Foden, the author as indicating, "...the film's depiction of Amin is comparable with the Shakespearean character Macbeth, whom he had in mind when writing the novel."
Release Date: 2006
Directed by Kevin Macdonald.
Labels: drama1, forest-whitaker, historical1, me-favorite1, period1
