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The Last King of Scotland (film)

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The Last King of Scotland
UK Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Macdonald
Screenplay by
Based onThe Last King of Scotland
by Giles Foden
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAnthony Dod Mantle
Edited byJustine Wright
Music byAlex Heffes
Production
companies
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
  • 1 September 2006 (2006-09-01) (Telluride)
  • 12 January 2007 (2007-01-12) (United Kingdom)
  • 15 March 2007 (2007-03-15) (Germany)
Running time
123 minutes[1]
Countries
Languages
  • English
  • Swahili
Budget$6 million[3]
Box office$48.4 million[3]

The Last King of Scotland is a 2006 historical drama film directed by Kevin Macdonald from a screenplay by Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock. Based on Giles Foden's 1998 novel, its plot depicts the dictatorship of Ugandan President Idi Amin through the perspective of Nicholas Garrigan, a fictional Scottish doctor. The film stars Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Simon McBurney, and Gillian Anderson. The title of the film refers to Amin's spurious claim of being the King of Scotland.

The Last King of Scotland had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 1 September 2006, and was released in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2007, and in Germany on 15 March 2007, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film received positive reviews and grossed $48.4 million on a $6 million budget. For his performance as Idi Amin, Whitaker won an Academy Award for Best Actor, among other accolades.

Plot

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In 1970, Nicholas Garrigan graduates from the University of Edinburgh Medical School. With dull prospects at home, he decides to seek adventure abroad by working at a missionary clinic in Uganda run by David Merrit and his wife, Sarah. Garrigan becomes attracted to Sarah, who enjoys the attention but refuses to engage in an extramarital affair. After Garrigan arrives in Uganda, General Idi Amin overthrows President Milton Obote in a coup d'état. Amin gives a well-received speech, but Sarah is pessimistic. Garrigan is called to a car accident involving Amin and treats Amin's hand. During the incident, Garrigan takes a gun and shoots a mortally wounded cow when no-one else is willing to perform euthanasia. Initially hostile to Garrigan, Amin warms up to him after discovering he is Scottish due to his xenophilia for the Scots. Delighted by Garrigan's initiative, Amin exchanges clothing with him and subsequently invites Garrigan to serve as his personal physician and lead efforts to modernise the Ugandan healthcare system.

While working for Amin, Garrigan becomes a trusted confidant and is entrusted with a wider range of duties, include matters of state. Despite being dismayed by acts of government repression, Garrigan accepts Amin's explanation that cracking down on political opposition will bring lasting peace to Uganda. Garrigan eventually learns that Amin has ostracized the youngest of his three wives, Kay, because she has given birth to an epileptic son, Mackenzie. When treating Mackenzie, Garrigan and Kay start to form a relationship. Eventually, Garrigan becomes disillusioned by Amin as he witnesses increasing amounts of paranoia, murders and xenophobia. He attempts to announce his intention to return home, but is rebuffed by Amin. While at a party, after doing his best to evade a go-go dancer who is assigned to become his lover, he and Kay have sex, and she says he must find a way to leave Uganda. Amin secretly replaces Garrigan's British passport with a Ugandan one to prevent him from escaping, which leads Garrigan to seek help from Stone, the local Foreign Office representative. Garrigan is told by Stone he will be secretly transported out of Uganda if he assassinates Amin, which Garrigan refuses.

In 1972, Amin orders the expulsion of Asians from Uganda over Garrigan's protests. This creates a labor shortage that tanks Uganda's economy. Kay informs Garrigan that she has become pregnant with his child. Aware that Amin will murder her for infidelity if he discovers this, she begs Garrigan for a secret abortion. Delayed by Amin's command that he attend a press conference with Western journalists, Garrigan fails to meet Kay at the appointed time. Kay concludes she has been abandoned and seeks out a primitive abortion in a nearby village, where she is apprehended by Amin's forces. Garrigan finds her dismembered corpse on an autopsy table. Distraught, he decides to kill Amin. A hijacked aircraft is flown to Entebbe Airport by pro-Palestinian hijackers seeking asylum. Amin, sensing a major publicity opportunity, rushes to the scene, taking Garrigan along. At the airport, one of Amin's bodyguards discovers Garrigan's plot to poison Amin under the ruse of giving him pills for a headache. Garrigan is beaten by Amin's henchmen before Amin arrives and discloses he is aware of the relationship with Kay. As punishment, Garrigan's chest is pierced with meat hooks before he is hanged by his skin.

Amin arranges a plane for the release of non-Israeli passengers, and the torturers leave Garrigan unconscious on the floor while they relax in another room. Garrigan's medical colleague, Dr. Junju, takes advantage of the opportunity to rescue him. He urges Garrigan to tell the world the truth about Amin's regime, asserting that the world will believe Garrigan because he is white. Junju gives Garrigan his own jacket, enabling him to mingle unnoticed with the crowd of freed hostages and board the plane. When the torturers discover Garrigan's absence, Junju is killed for aiding in the escape. The Entebbe incident irreparably ruins Amin's reputation in the international community, and in 1979 he decides to invade Tanzania, which counterattacks and captures Kampala, overthrowing him. He lives the rest of his life in exile in Saudi Arabia until his death in 2003.

Cast

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Historical accuracy

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While the character of Idi Amin and some of the events surrounding him in the film are mostly based on fact, Garrigan is a fictional character. Foden has acknowledged that one real-life figure who contributed to the character Garrigan was English-born Bob Astles, who worked with Amin.[4] Another real-life figure who has been mentioned in connection with Garrigan is Scottish doctor Wilson Carswell.[5] Like the novel on which it is based, the film mixes fiction with real events to give an impression of Amin and Uganda under his rule. While the basic arc of Amin's rule is followed, the events in the film depart from both actual history and the plot and characters in Foden's novel.

In real life and in the book, Kay Amin was impregnated by her lover, who was a Ugandan physician (given a different name in the book than in real life). She died during a botched abortion performed by him, and he subsequently committed suicide.[6] Astles said in a lengthy interview for The Times with the journalist Paul Vallely that her body was dismembered by her lover so it could be hidden and was then sewn back together on Amin's orders.[7] Amin never had a son named Campbell.

Contrary to the wording of the film's coda stating, "48 hours later, Israeli Forces stormed Entebbe and liberated all but one of the hostages", three hostages died during Operation Entebbe. The body of a fourth hostage, 75-year-old Dora Bloch, who was killed by Uganda Army officers at a nearby hospital in retaliation for Israel's actions, was eventually returned to Israel.[8] The murder of Dora Bloch is depicted accurately in the book but not mentioned at all in the film. Also when the non-Israeli hostages were released, they are seen being flown out of Entebbe, Uganda to Paris, France on an Antonov An-12 aircraft, but in real life the non-Israeli hostages were flown to Paris on a chartered Air France Boeing 747.[9][10]

According to Foden, the film's depiction of Amin is comparable with the Shakespearean character Macbeth, whom he had in mind when writing the novel.[11]

Release

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The Last King of Scotland received a limited release in the United States on 27 September 2006, a UK release on 12 January 2007, a French release on 14 February 2007, and a German release on 15 March 2007. In the United States and Canada, the film earned $17,606,684 at the box office. In the United Kingdom, the film took $11,131,918. Its combined worldwide gross was $48,362,207.[12]

Reception

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Critical response

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The Last King of Scotland has an approval rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 183 reviews, with an average score of 7.3/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Forest Whitaker's performance as real-life megalomaniac dictator Idi Amin powers this fictionalized political thriller, a blunt and brutal tale about power and corruption".[13] At Metacritic, the film has a score of 74 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14]

Accolades

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Whitaker won in the leading actor category at the Academy Awards, the British Academy Film Awards, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Whitaker also won awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association, the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics' Circle, the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, and many other critics awards, for a total of at least 23 major awards, with at least one more nominations.

As of 2022, Forest Whitaker's portrayal from "The Last King of Scotland" is one of only two performances of non-fictional leaders (Helen Mirren from 2006's The Queen being the other) in a leading role and is the only lead actor to ever sweep the rarest achievements known as "The Big Four" critics awards (LAFCA, NBR, NYFCC, NSFC) as well as win the Oscar, BAFTA, Critics' Choice, Golden Globe, and SAG awards in the same year.

The film was received well in Uganda, where it premiered two days before Whitaker won the Academy Award.[15]

Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
AARP Movies for Grownups Awards Best Movie for Grownups Won [16]
Academy Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won [17]
African-American Film Critics Association Awards Top 10 Films 2nd Place
Best Picture Nominated
Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won
Awards Circuit Community Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role Runner-up
BET Awards Best Actor Won [18]
Best Actress Kerry Washington Nominated
Black Reel Awards Outstanding Actor Forest Whitaker Won [19]
Outstanding Supporting Actress Kerry Washington Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won [20]
British Academy Film Awards Best Film Andrea Calderwood, Lisa Bryer, and
Charles Steel 		Nominated [21]
Outstanding British Film Andrea Calderwood, Lisa Bryer,
Charles Steel, Kevin Macdonald,
Peter Morgan, and Jeremy Brock 		Won
Best Actor in a Leading Role Forest Whitaker Won
Best Actor in a Supporting Role James McAvoy Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock Won
British Academy Scotland Awards Best Film Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood,
Kevin Macdonald, and Charles Steel 		Won [22]
Best Actor James McAvoy Won
Best Screenplay Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock Won
British Independent Film Awards Best British Independent Film Nominated [23]
Best Director Kevin Macdonald Won
Best Actor James McAvoy Nominated
Forest Whitaker Nominated
Best Screenplay Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock Nominated
Best Technical Achievement Anthony Dod Mantle (for cinematography) Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won [24]
Cinema for Peace Awards The Most Valuable Film Actor Won [25]
Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Actor Won [26]
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Won [27]
European Film Awards European Film Nominated [28]
European Director Kevin Macdonald Nominated
European Actor James McAvoy Nominated
European Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle Nominated
European Composer Alex Heffes Nominated
People's Choice Award Nominated
Evening Standard British Film Awards Best Screenplay Peter Morgan (also for The Queen) Won
Best Technical Achievement Anthony Dod Mantle (also for Brothers of the Head) Won
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won [29]
Gold Derby Film Awards Best Lead Actor Nominated [30]
Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Won [31]
Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing in Feature Film – Dialogue & ADR Christian Conrad, Fabian Schmidt, and
Dominik Schleier 		Nominated [32]
Hollywood Film Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won
IndieWire Critics Poll Best Actor 5th Place [33]
Iowa Film Critics Awards Best Actor Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor Won [34]
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards Best Actor Won [35]
Leggio d'oro Best Male Performance Paolo Buglioni (dubbing for Forest Whitaker) Won
London Film Critics Circle Awards Actor of the Year Forest Whitaker Won [36]
British Actor of the Year James McAvoy Nominated
British Director of the Year Kevin Macdonald Nominated
British Producer of the Year Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood, and
Charles Steel 		Nominated
British Film of the Year Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won[a] [37]
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Won [38]
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Kerry Washington Nominated
National Board of Review Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won [39]
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actor Won [40]
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor Won [41]
New York Film Critics Online Awards Best Actor Won [42]
North Texas Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Won
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards Top Ten Films Won
Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won
Online Film & Television Association Awards Best Actor Won [43]
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Actor Won [44]
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role Won [45]
Political Film Society Awards Human Rights Won
Santa Barbara International Film Festival American Riviera Award Forest Whitaker Won [46]
Satellite Awards Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated [47]
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Forest Whitaker Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Won [48]
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Won [49]
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards Best Picture Nominated [50]
Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won
Stockholm International Film Festival Best Cinematography Anthony Dod Mantle Won
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Runner-up [51]
USC Scripter Awards Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock (screenwriters);
Giles Foden (author) 		Nominated [52]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor Forest Whitaker Won [53]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Won [54]
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards Best Screenplay (Feature Film) Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock Nominated [55]

Notes

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  1. ^ Tied with Sacha Baron Cohen for Borat.

References

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  4. ^ "An Interview with Giles Foden". Random House. Archived from the original on 29 March 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  5. ^ Pells, Rachael (10 October 2014). "Douglas Carswell profile". independent.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  6. ^ ""The myths surrounding Idi Amin."". Archived from the original on 28 May 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2007. Daily Monitor, accessed 12 December 2009.
  7. ^ "Interview with Paul Vallely". The Times. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Body of Amin Victim Is Flown Back to Israel". The New York Times. 4 June 1979. p. A3. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  9. ^ "The Last King of Scotland (2006) Goofs". imdb.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  10. ^ David, Saul (2015). Operation Thunderbolt: The Entebbe Raid – The Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History. Back Bay Books. ISBN 978-0316245395.
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