February 17, 2010

The Last King of Scotland is in many ways a “period piece”. It chronicles a man who many people will remember from when he was in power in the 1970's. However the news organizations of the time seem to have written their own versions of history – with their particular governments interests in mind. Not surprisingly, there are legends of hideous brutality and immense kindness – it all depends on with whom you speak.

Most view Idi Amin as a brutal dictator who killed between 100,000 and 300,000 of his own people. That is what I was taught in school – along with a barrage of stereotype racist comments about the man. While I'm sure many of the stories are true, I never was really told “why” or the significance of this reign in Uganda. I was hoping The Last King of Scotland would clear some of that up – and also allow me to enjoy the acting of Forrest Whitaker. Unfortunately I only got to enjoy the acting and not the film.

The movie follows a young white Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (played by James McAvoy). He decides he wants to see the world and help people. A fascinating caricature that gives the audience someone to connect with, but unfortunately he's only that – he doesn't actually exist. To be fair, the blu-ray box touts the film as a “powerful drama inspired by real people and events”. Garrigan is simply a cinematic tool to help draw us into the story. He ends up helping people in the countryside and eventually after helping heal a hand injury, Idi Amin's personal physician and trusted confidant.

Along the way, Garrigan has an affair with one of Amin's wives (Amin had 5 wives in his lifetime). Obviously the affair is fabricated since Garrigan doesn't exist. The woman is killed and dismembered. In the movie Amin has her parts sewn back on in the wrong places (I'm assuming as some kind of sick retribution for the affair). There are conflicting views on if this ever really happened and who killed her. It's not very clear what the filmmakers point was in this mishmash of fact and fiction but I can't say I know anything more accurate or factual than I did before seeing the movie. In the end it felt like this film should have been titled “Escape from Uganda” or some other such blockbuster chase movie title.

Filmmaking: 6
In any event, the acting is something to see for any student. Forrest Whitaker won the 2006 Oscar for his portrayal of Idi Amin and he deserved every award he could put on his mantle. McAvoy also turns in a solid performance with Gillian Anderson. The movie is a little long at 2 hours and 3 minutes, but if taken with a large grain of salt, it is an interesting and at times horrifying portrayal of Idi Amin.

Visuals: 8
This is of course the best this film has looked on home video. The filmmakers captured the Ugandan people and countryside in stark detail, though in some scenes it appears they put a slight yellow tint to the color. It's almost like we are looking at an old photograph from the 70's – haunting in detail but still yellow with age. In most scenes the picture is very detailed and at times with brilliant color. The Last King of Scotland is certainly not a reference quality film anyone would use as a demo, but it does boast a nice AVC 30 MBPS quality picture.

Sound: 7
The Last King of Scotland has a wealth of sound options for any viewer. English is delivered in 5.1 DTS-HD, Spanish in 5.1 Dolby Digital, French in 5.1 DTS, and Portuguese in 5.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitles are available in the same languages as well. The sound isn't what you would find for big budget films, but what we do get does enhance the movie and environments shown. Dialog and gunshots are clear and directional, but not overwhelming. This isn't a Michael Bay blockbuster after all. In short, the audio doesn't draw you in, but it doesn't distract either.

Value: 8
The Last King of Scotland has some significant extras – and it should. Every docudrama should have “the real story” included – especially if they are revising the history in the film. This disc doesn't go as far as it could – the inclusion of a History Channel special would have been welcome – but it does bring some significant pieces to the table.

The feature length commentary by director Kevin MacDonald is probably one of the better commentaries I've heard with a single person. It's very informative about the actors, the filming process and the real Idi Amin – he even provides the web site addresses for more information about the history of the period. However as with many commentaries that feature one person speaking, there isn't anyone for the director to play off of – so there are long gaps during particularly important scenes where it's pretty easy to tell he is just memorized by the acting.

There are 7 Deleted Scenes with option commentary by director Kevin MacDonald (12 minutes) These scenes include an alternate opening with a boxing match. It would have changed the feeling of the film considerably – starting with Idi Amin's background as a boxing champion. The other scenes are minor extensions of scenes such as the press conference, bar scene and misc others. There's nothing here that's good enough to have kept in the film, but the different opening scene certainly would have made it feel more like the Idi Amin story than the fictitious Nicholas Garrigan story.

Capturing Idi Amin (29:04 in high definition and standard definition) is a BBC documentary is a mix of behind the scenes footage while the film was being made and comments from locals, actors and others. It really is more accurate than the movie – making a point in several areas that this is a fictional story in a historical setting. For me, it was more fascinating watching this film and hearing from native Ugandan people than watching a fictionalized version in film. Even Forest Whitaker seemed a little irritated that such blatant dramatic license was taken.

Forest Whitaker: Idi Amin (5:59 in standard definition) is an unremarkable studio behind the scenes promo piece interviews Whitaker and McAvoy about Amin. It does serve to feature some of the best acting of Forest Whitaker's career. The first 30 seconds of Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session – the Last King of Scotland (8:36 in standard definition) are a bad promo for the Fox Movie Channel, however the remainder of the clip goes into some detail about casting. The director makes a statement that really should have been used more often to avoid expectations of a factual film about Idi Amin. He states that this film is “a thriller set in the 1970's in the world of Idi Amin”. In many ways this is has some of the more fascinating interactions with Whitaker about his acting process and staying in character. And finally, you have the Theatrical Trailer (2:17 in standard definition)

Overall: 7.6
The Last King of Scotland is one of those dramatizations of history. It is based on factual events and eyewitness testimonies, but there are significant plot points in the film which are completely fabricated or a combination of the above. It didn't have to be that way. Everything I have read about the man and even in this blu-ray's extras suggest that this 'larger than life' man had an abundance of stories to be told. It's unfortunate that instead of making a factual documentary with the amazing actors, the filmmakers decided to make their own sensationalized-thriller-sort of-historical film.