The Last King of Scotland

We went to see the film "The last king of Scotland" yesterday. The name can be pretty misleading since Scotland is not really the country in question in the film. In fact the country in question is thousands of miles away in another continent, Uganda.

Yep, we are talking about the troubled times of Uganda in the 70s where Idi Amin, the famous dictator was the president of the country. The association with Scotland I'm not entirely sure although in fact, Amin did call himself the king of Scotland, one of the many titles he bestowed upon himself.

Uganda gained independence from the British empire in 1962 and Milton Obote was the first prime minister. Even though Obote was supportive towards Amin, he was no saint either. Obote declared himself president and sent the existing president in to exile in Britain, and promoted Amin to become prime minister. Despite the support of Obote, Amin carried out a military coup in 1971 and seized power.

The film starts at this point, when a young Scottish doctor "Nicholas Garrigan" comes to Uganda in search of adventure and making a difference in a community which could do with some. The character is fictional, and it's through this character, that we, the veiwers get close to the real character Idi Amin.

Amin is drawn in by the young and adventurous character of Nicholas and soon makes him his personal physio. The young doctor is very much blind to the real happenings that take place in the political life of Amin, and later as he gradually begins to mature and understand the brutality that lies beneath the charming and funny outward appearance of Amin, it's too late.

The film depicts the brutality and inhumane character of Amin during whose time as president in Uganda, much violence and killing was carried out. The death toll is not known accurately, it is estimated that around 500,000 Ugandans including other ethnicities like Indians were killed by him. (estimates according to Amnesty International)

Even though there are allegations and popular beliefs that he was a cannibal, I couldn't find any hard and fast facts proving it. However, in the film also a couple of times, the subject is brought up in a vague fashion.

The film is pretty good but I wouldn't rate it as one of the best I've seen, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the actors or the story. It's just that I was keen in seeing the life story of Amin, but the film is not about that, it's just a window on his life as president. But at the end of the film even that brief story leaves u shaken.