I was finally able to saw this movie yesterday on TV. I had a very different view of the movie. I had thought it would be more like a documentary about Idi Amin and it will be a little slow, little serious. But the movie was full of pace and excitement. And add to that the brilliant acting by Forrest Whittaker. His portryal of the famous Ugandan dictator was extraordinary and in some scenes he so magnificiently depcited the cruel, pityless and shrewd psyche of Amin. Forrest truly deserved the Oscar.
The movie also starred James McAvoy(last seen in Atonement) as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan which was a fictional character, apparantely shown as Idi Amin’s physician. The movie is based on a popular novel by the same name written by Giles Foden. It starts with a Scottish Dr. Garrigan who comes to Uganda seeking adventure. He starts working in a clinic in countryside. His meeting with Amin takes place when one day Amin met an accident and he treats him. Highly impressed by Doc, Amin invites him to become his personal physician. Doc quickly becomes one of his personal confidante and Amin considers him as his personal advisor showering him with luxuries like a brand new Merc etc. But slowly things takes bad shape, starting with Doc sleeping with Amin’s wife and making her pregnant. He also realizes the dark side of dictator as a mass murderer. He tries to kill Amin by giving him poisonous tablets but is soon caught. Amin’s wife dies while getting an abortion and he decides to punish Doc by torturing him to slow death. But Doc somehow manages to escape from Uganada in the end.
The movie is entirely fictional which takes place among real incidents that happened in Uganda that time like the expulsions of some 60000 asians from Uganda, or the famous hostage crisis that happend at Entebbe airport.
This movie is worth watch owing to brilliant performance by Whittaker and McAvoy.