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The Last King of Scotland

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United Kingdom, Germany · 2006
Rated R · 2h 1m
Director Kevin Macdonald
Starring Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Simon McBurney, Gillian Anderson
Genre Drama

Young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan decides it's time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck in Uganda, and arrives during the downfall of President Obote. General Idi Amin comes to power and asks Garrigan to become his personal doctor.

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70

Village Voice by

An adequate thriller redeemed by Forest Whitaker's sensational turn as Idi Amin.

90

Newsweek by David Ansen

Forest Whitaker, uncorking the power that he usually holds in check, gives a chilling, bravura performance as Ugandan tyrant Idi Amin, whose bloody regime slaughtered more than 300,000 people. This intelligent, sometimes gruesome thriller is based on a novel by Giles Foden.

75

Premiere by Glenn Kenny

Whitaker's Amin is the kind of raging lunatic that only an actor who has made a specialty of quiet caginess could pull off so convincingly. It's great, and scary, to see Whitaker turn it up to 11 for once.

75

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

Director Kevin Macdonald has fashioned a film that is at times nearly as harrowing as his previous endeavor, "Touching the Void."

70

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

Furiously paced, with excellent performances by Forest Whitaker as Amin and James McAvoy as the foolish Scotsman who becomes the leader's personal physician, the film has texture, if not depth and enough intelligence to almost persuade you that it actually has something of note to say.

70

Variety by Todd McCarthy

In the end, The Last King of Scotland is much better when it plays it cool and amusing than when it tries to ramp up outrage and indignation.

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