Anyone see The Last King of Scotland?

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@jrepka

Yes, I believe it follows the fictional tradition of giving the viewers a white European or American character to care about (see Blood Diamond, Beyond Rangoon, The Constant Gardener, Mississippi Burning), or from whose perspective they can view unfolding events, or as an “innocent” who can ask the questions whose answers drive the narrative forward.

I am not as cynical about this method as the previous paragraph implies. In many cases this method does a good job of propelling the story and introduces viewers/readers to historical people/events about which they might have only a cursory knowledge (if that).

It’s important to have a character like that, because without it there’s no bridge between the viewer and an alien culture. However, the problem I had with the doctor was how he became such a participant (weaving him into the tapestry of Amin’s life at crucial moments) but he seemed so indifferent and apolitical. I could see Amin bringing him in as a novelty, but why was he so convinced that the doctor was such a trusted advisor? And for his part, the doctor seemed to do things just to advance the plot, i.e. impregnating one of Amin’s wiveswhich he seemed too sane to do. It wasn’t as obnoxiously manipulative as The Lord of War (an egregiously stupid, button-pushing movie) but it left you with the belief that you knew something of this piece of history when actually it was a very distorted and somewhat bowlderized story.

I guess what bugs me is I wasn’t sure who was supporsed to be the main character; the titular character is Amin, of course, but we see his actions through the Scottish doctor, even though the latter is essentially inconsequental to the story. It’s just not his story. This is different from, say, The Quiet American or The Constant Gardener, which are similar insofar as the main character wants to be apolitical and uninvolved, but ends up very personally involved, i.e. the essential story is about their desires or objectives and the political situation, while intertwined and allegoried, is a backdrop. The doctor seemed to just be shoehorned in and pushed into doing something that would force him to be involved. I just don’t buy it.

Whitaker’s performance was awe-inspiring, though. It wasn’t just bombastic scenery-chewing or straight villianism, which would have been trivial. It was by turns charismatic and brutal, pitch perfect for an intelligent, paranoid, passionate, ruthless dictator. The movie just needed a more compelling protagonist with a real reason to be there. I’m inclined to read the book to see how much they stripped him down. And while wedging fictional characters into historical fact has a long history (heck, that’s pretty much all of the Hornblower and Aubery-Maturin stories in some fahsion) it just didn’t work for me here.

The level of violence was extreme and gruesome, but (to my sensibilities) not itself gratuitous, at least insofar as it was depicting the life and actions of one of the most gratuitous dictators in memory. My companion had to cover her eyes a few times, and I’ll admit to squirming through one particular scene, but it was hardly out of line with the tortures visited upon unfortunately prisoners during Amin’s dictatorship; if anything, they softpetalled Amin’s reputation to keep the character from being a one-note psychopath (which, in the end, he was).

Stranger

[CapnPitt]

I thought Whittaker was terrific, but that the movie was just meh. They didn’t really reveal any of the massacres until the end and it was almost a throwaway. They got the crazy right, but they didn’t demonstrate the extent and damage of one man’s craziness too well.

[Tuckerfan]

@Stranger On A Train

It’s important to have a character like that, because without it there’s no bridge between the viewer and an alien culture. However, the problem I had with the doctor was how he became such a participant (weaving him into the tapestry of Amin’s life at crucial moments) but he seemed so indifferent and apolitical. I could see Amin bringing him in as a novelty, but why was he so convinced that the doctor was such a trusted advisor?

Because the doctor shot the cow. He didn’t wait for the folks to explain to the farmer that there was nothing to be done to save the cow, he just grabbed the gun and shot it when he got tired of it screaming. That showed to Amin that the doctor was more a man of action than contemplation, which is what Amin was.

Oh, and as for your comment in the spoiler box, it was pretty much established before this that that was a “hobby” of the doctor’s. If you’ll recall, even he and Amin have a conversation about it in the palace. Not that event specifically, but what motivates the doctor to do such things to begin with.