- Note: Blu-ray discs are in a high definition format and need to be played on a Blu-ray player. To find out more about Blu-ray, visit our Hi-Def Learn & Shop store.
- Important Information on Firmware Updates: Having trouble with your Blu-ray disc player? Will certain discs just not play? You may need to update the firmware inside your player. Click here to learn more.
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
As the evil Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Forest Whitaker gives an unforgettable performance in The Last King of Scotland. Powerfully illustrating the terrible truth that absolute power corrupts absolutely, this fictionalised chronicle of Amin's rise and fall is based on the acclaimed novel by Giles Foden, in which Amin's despotic reign of terror is viewed through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda in the early 1970s to serve as Amin's personal physician. His outsider's perspective causes him to be initially impressed by Amin's calculated rise to power, but as the story progresses--and as Whitaker's award-worthy performance grows increasingly monstrous--The Last King of Scotland turns into a pointed examination of how independent Uganda (a British colony until 1962) became a breeding ground for Amin's genocidal tyranny. As Whitaker plays him, Amin is both seductive and horribly destructive--sometimes in the same breath--and McAvoy effectively conveys the tragic cost of his character's naiveté, which grows increasingly prone to exploitation. As directed by Kevin Macdonald (who made the riveting semi-documentary Touching the Void), this potent cautionary tale my prompt some viewers to check out Barbet Schroeder's equally revealing documentary General Idi Amin Dada, an essential source for much of this film's authentic detail. --Jeff Shannon
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Set in 1970, this film follows the adventures of newly-qualified doctor Nicholas Garrigan (played by James McAvoy) as he seeks something racier than following his father into the family practice. More or less at random he picks work as an overseas medical officer in Uganda. On the bus into the country he declares, on sighting his first monkey, "if we had monkeys in Scotland we'd probably deep-fry them" before breaking his journey to make jiggy-jiggy with the first local girl he speaks to.
Upon arrival at the mission hospital - a day late - he soon finds that the heavy clinical workload is both emotionally overwhelming and not to his taste. A chance meeting with newly-installed president Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) leads to an offer he can hardly refuse to become the president's personal physician. However he soon finds that he is in over his head and has to turn for help to the bourgeois types in the British establishment that he had come to Africa to avoid.
James McAvoy's character is a thrill-seeking charmer who smokes, drinks and services his libido with as many attractive women as he can. Both he and Idi Amin see something of themselves in each others eyes, though Idi Amin wins hands down in the psychopathy stakes. Forest Whitaker plays the fickle egotist brilliantly and avoids the pantomime psycho act in favour of a more believable and even sympathetic character - the film shows that he's not just being paranoid, they really are out to get him!
On the down side, Dr Garrigan at times felt like a gap-yearing member of the ipod generation who had been time-warped into a Graham Greene story. Would a young doctor in 1970 be so naive and reckless?
This film has great scenery and characters and accurately depicts the clothes, buildings and vehicles of the time and place it is set. Well worth seeing more than once.
Upon arrival at the mission hospital - a day late - he soon finds that the heavy clinical workload is both emotionally overwhelming and not to his taste. A chance meeting with newly-installed president Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) leads to an offer he can hardly refuse to become the president's personal physician. However he soon finds that he is in over his head and has to turn for help to the bourgeois types in the British establishment that he had come to Africa to avoid.
James McAvoy's character is a thrill-seeking charmer who smokes, drinks and services his libido with as many attractive women as he can. Both he and Idi Amin see something of themselves in each others eyes, though Idi Amin wins hands down in the psychopathy stakes. Forest Whitaker plays the fickle egotist brilliantly and avoids the pantomime psycho act in favour of a more believable and even sympathetic character - the film shows that he's not just being paranoid, they really are out to get him!
On the down side, Dr Garrigan at times felt like a gap-yearing member of the ipod generation who had been time-warped into a Graham Greene story. Would a young doctor in 1970 be so naive and reckless?
This film has great scenery and characters and accurately depicts the clothes, buildings and vehicles of the time and place it is set. Well worth seeing more than once.
33 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
James McAvoy plays Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, who is fresh out of medical college in the 1970s. Nicholas thoroughly dreads following in his dour father's footsteps, a life to be spent working in a Scottish general practice. Driven by the urge to get away, he spins a globe and randomly stabs a finger, which lands on the sub-Saharan country of Uganda.
There Nicholas meets the newly self-installed president of the country, General Idi Amin. During a meeting between the two, where Nicholas treats an injury picked up by Amin during an accident, the dictator finds out that Nicholas is Scottish. Prompted by his love of all things Highland, Amin sweeps the young and impressionable Scot into the inner circle of his government before Nicholas has time to consider the danger signs.
Gillian Anderson, who lays on a near fautless British accent not for the only time in her career, is sadly underused to the point of irrelevance. Playing a veteran health worker who has seen the likes of Amin before, she tries to warn Nicholas of the dangers of getting swept along by the dictator's charisma, but to no avail.
Forest Whitaker's performance as Amin is stellar. A kind of black Josef Stalin, he dominates every scene he's in, his moods swinging with paranoid sharpness and his trust shattering at so much as a perceived funny look from an underling.
Viewers should know that there are two extremely unpleasant scenes at the end of the film. These come as even more of a shock after Nicholas has spent so much of the story revelling in the Ugandan high-life, only becoming aware of his patron's evil excesses once they reach their worst depths.
The highlights of the film are, again, Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin, and the colour, music and tribal pageantry of Ugandan life, before the dictator's brutality brought the country to its knees, shown in all its glory.
I only learned after the fact that James McAvoy's character is entirely fictional. This is a shame because the film might have made a superb primer to the history, culture and personality of the region had The Last King Of Scotland shown life in Amin's government from the perspective from someone who had actually been there.
Nevertheless, this is a cut way, way above most of the dross that clutters the shelves of your local DVD store. Be prepared for the nastiness in the film's closing quarter, but by all means, don't overlook it.
There Nicholas meets the newly self-installed president of the country, General Idi Amin. During a meeting between the two, where Nicholas treats an injury picked up by Amin during an accident, the dictator finds out that Nicholas is Scottish. Prompted by his love of all things Highland, Amin sweeps the young and impressionable Scot into the inner circle of his government before Nicholas has time to consider the danger signs.
Gillian Anderson, who lays on a near fautless British accent not for the only time in her career, is sadly underused to the point of irrelevance. Playing a veteran health worker who has seen the likes of Amin before, she tries to warn Nicholas of the dangers of getting swept along by the dictator's charisma, but to no avail.
Forest Whitaker's performance as Amin is stellar. A kind of black Josef Stalin, he dominates every scene he's in, his moods swinging with paranoid sharpness and his trust shattering at so much as a perceived funny look from an underling.
Viewers should know that there are two extremely unpleasant scenes at the end of the film. These come as even more of a shock after Nicholas has spent so much of the story revelling in the Ugandan high-life, only becoming aware of his patron's evil excesses once they reach their worst depths.
The highlights of the film are, again, Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin, and the colour, music and tribal pageantry of Ugandan life, before the dictator's brutality brought the country to its knees, shown in all its glory.
I only learned after the fact that James McAvoy's character is entirely fictional. This is a shame because the film might have made a superb primer to the history, culture and personality of the region had The Last King Of Scotland shown life in Amin's government from the perspective from someone who had actually been there.
Nevertheless, this is a cut way, way above most of the dross that clutters the shelves of your local DVD store. Be prepared for the nastiness in the film's closing quarter, but by all means, don't overlook it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is an entertaining 2 hours. The newly qualified doctor (and the film) wastes little time in getting out of the humdrum of rural Scotland and down to Uganda - just in time for Idi Amin's coup and subsequent takeover of power.
Amin did have a soft spot for Scotland (apparently) so the premis of the film, although fictitious, is an interesting one.
Don't expect blood and gore here - there's just enough to get the message of a brutal regime across, but it's the human interest angle that make it intriguing.
It's also interesting to see how an ordinary person, although well-intentioned, can get caught up in the direction and deeds of a much bigger machine.
Amin did have a soft spot for Scotland (apparently) so the premis of the film, although fictitious, is an interesting one.
Don't expect blood and gore here - there's just enough to get the message of a brutal regime across, but it's the human interest angle that make it intriguing.
It's also interesting to see how an ordinary person, although well-intentioned, can get caught up in the direction and deeds of a much bigger machine.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
This will blew you away?...Forest Whitaker is Idi Amin
(the film)A Scottish doctor on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin. Impressed by Dr. Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. F. husseiny
A powerful, dramatic vision of a viscious dictator
Screenplay writers Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock had a great deal to begin with as they told the story of this larger-than-life, vicious dictator and, under Kevin Macdonald's fluid... Read more
Published 6 months ago by RR Waller
great actor, average movie... and bad treatments towards animals?
I enjoyed the acting performance (incredible Forest Whitaker) but I disliked the movie in itself - way too predictable and unlikely (the young white doctor having an affair with... Read more
Published 6 months ago by franck
Whitaker 5*s. Film 3*s.
Forest Whitaker is outstanding, totally convincing and deserving of all the honours that came his way. Quite superb! I could give the film 5*s based on his performance. Read more
Published 7 months ago by I. Craft
True to life
this was recommended by a missionary that was there at the time of this man reign,now seen for my self the horror that this missionary and many people went through
Published 18 months ago by William G. Williams
Charming maniac
Forest Whitaker a wonderful performance as the maniac with charm, Amin. The young doctor is rather far fetched. Fiction is meant to be believable. Read more
Published 19 months ago by G. J. Weeks
A Good Historical Drama
This film stimulated my curiosity about Idi Amin, and it dramatised historical events in an engaging way. Read more
Published 20 months ago by William Cohen
Brilliant film and a must buy
The amazion description tell's you what it's about so I just tell what I think of it. It is has a brilliant cast and the acting is really good. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ben Nicholson
Looks superb on Blu-ray, but no additional extras
I didn't know a massive amount about Idi Amin's reign of terror when I sat down to watch The Last King of Scotland, but it was certainly enlightening. Read more
Published 24 months ago by DVDfever
You did not persuade me, Nicholas.
Well, Forest Whitaker is very good, there's no doubt about that. So are the black supporting cast, all play their parts with commitment and skill. Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2010 by A. Willard
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
