The Last King of Scotland & My 100th post

Last night B.J. and I watched a pretty powerful movie: The Last King of Scotland.



Yes, yes, I know it is old. I know it won an Oscar and a Golden Globe (best actor: Forest Whitaker), but it was new to me. So, I'm going to add my 'two-bits' about it.



The movie takes place in 1970's Uganda, during the tyranny years of Idi Amin's administration. It is a fictionalized version of what took place during the years 1971-1979.



I was completely blown away by this film. I, like a typical American, know very little about Africa and its myriad of problems within specific countries (I'm ashamed to admit it, but its true. I have no excuse). I appreciated this film, because it, although fictionalized, strove to portray what Amin was like: both as the monster and the man. It showed Amin as a well-loved political leader (president) of Uganda, and how hopeful the people were that he'd make things better. He was portrayed as a friend and caring father. And, of course, he was shown as the madman master-mind behind the ruthless and systematic murder of 300,000 Ugandan people.



Forest Whitaker (Amin) did a bang-up job in his role; doubtless, why he received such accolades for it. I cannot imagine being able to act so well and engross myself into a character so much that I would 'become' that person. Whitaker, to me, becomes Amin. His multifaceted talent showcases the spectrum of 'people' that was Amin.



What was most striking to me was the extras on the DVD. It interviews the characters and the Ugandan actors about how the feel about portraying Idi Amin and his regime in Uganda. As one Ugandan woman put it: "Idi Amin has not returned to Uganda since 1979 [he spent the years '79-'03 in exile in Saudi Arabia]. I don't know if I like the idea of Amin coming home."



The film was shot on location in Uganda, using Ugandan actors who, incidentally, in real life, survived the Amin years. Their interviews were, I believe, paramount to the credibility of the film. Actor after actor, and extra after extra, over the age of about 25, recounted with sadness and apprehension tales from their lives during the Amin administration. Brutal treatment of innocent and guilty alike, dismemberment, mutilation, humiliation, and unspeakable terror made up the composition of their lives. The worst of it, being, that the young Ugandan people (under age 20) do not know/remember about the Amin years. The atrocities are not spoken about, and people are not educated. This leaves the door wide open to yet another megalomaniac like Amin to waltz into power, romance the people, and commit the same types of atrocities over again.



It is very much like the Holocaust during Nazi Germany's rise to power during the first half of the 20th century. As people forget, or worse--are told lies that the atrocities NEVER HAPPENED--it leaves the history books open to be re-written and for the horrors to surface and happen all over again.



The Ugandans interviewed on the DVD hoped that by raising the specter of Amin, in Uganda and the world, that it would help the world to remember the cruelty and inhumanity that took place during the 1970's. They hoped that it would help the youth of Uganda to know a version of their past, a version of the truth, so that it could set them free from future tyranny.



I cannot recommend this movie enough. Watch it when you're in a 'space' to appreciate all that it encompasses. I know it was sitting on the top of my television set for a the upwards of two weeks (gotta love Netflix and the 'no late fees' policy) before I was where I could truly sit down and watch the movie. I'm glad I waited, and I'm glad that I was able to see it.



Do, find time, watch The Last King of Scotland.