The Last King of Scotland
— A masterclass in biopic acting from Forest Whitaker.”
- Director: Kevin Macdonald
- United Kingdom, 2007
James McAvoy’s turn as leading man here is a superb mix of naïveté, youthful exuberance and abject fear. It’s perhaps unfortunate then that Last King will always be remembered – pretty much to the exclusion of everyone and everything else – for Forest Whitaker’s career-defining performance.
As General Idi Amin Dada, the complex, brutal and at times thoroughly unhinged dictator of Uganda, Whitaker is terrifyingly believable. Just as Amin dominated Ugandan life so completely, Whitaker completely owns this movie, his character even managing to dominate the scenes in which he doesn’t appear.
Director Macdonald might not have intended to stake the entire success of the movie on the Amin characterisation working well but it seems that way, with Whitaker justly earning 2007′s Best Actor Oscar, such that you have to wonder what else there is to say about Last King without mentioning him. Art imitating life, indeed.
See also:
The Departed
The older generation still runs things round these parts.
- Originally published: 26 Feb 2007 in Film
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
A smash-and-grab of awards for a film that feels rather rushed.
- Originally published: 7 Sep 2006 in Film
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
The soul of a hitman: another comical curiosity from the quiet genius.
- Originally published: 10 Jan 2007 in Film
Fargo
A masterpiece of underplay and a black comedy à l’époque, Fargo is a Coen watershed.
- Originally published: 25 Feb 2007 in Film
The Aviator
Like the 1920s lifestyle – expensive but frequently soulless.
- Originally published: 19 Feb 2007 in Film
Who you gonna call?
Hello you, I'm Mike Padgett. I'm not a Princeton curator, Knoxville mayoral candidate, Kentuckian pastor or Arizona journalist, I just share the same name. In fact, I am a consultant working in user experience and information design.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm originally from Yorkshire, England but nowadays I live in Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is Black Albert.
Shameless self-promotion
Over a year in the making, Dopeology.org is my latest personal project: a topology of doping in thirty years of European pro road cycling.
I collected information from thousands of sources, then I modelled and published it via a lightweight user interface.
Comments
No responses yet to The Last King of Scotland
Why not give me your comments?