The Last King of Scotland (R)

Brutal look at the consequences of absolute power.

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Common Sense rates it
4
Seen the movie? Review it
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Movie details
  • Studio: Fox Searchlight
  • Directed By: Kevin MacDonald
  • Cast: Forest Whitaker, Kerry Washington, James McAvoy
  • Running Time: 121 minutes
  • Release Date: 9/27/2006
  • Video/DVD Release Date: 4/17/2007
  • Genre: Drama
  • MPAA Rating: R
  • MPAA Explanation: some strong violence and gruesome images, sexual content and language.

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie is based on the real life of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and includes references to massacres, revenge killings, torture, and abuse. Some scenes depict such violence explicitly, including bloody bodies, shooting, knifing, and grisly torture. There are also some scenes of sexual activity, including a one-night liaison between the protagonist and an unknown woman and the protagonist's dangerous adulterous affair. Women appear in revealing or little clothing (some dancers are topless). Characters use foul language (especially "f--k") in anger. It's the 1970s, so characters also drink liquor and smoke cigarettes as emblems of class comfort.

Families can talk about the cycles of violence that afflict developing nations. How are these cycles supported by outsider money and exploitation of resources? Who's to blame for what happens in these cases? Families can also talk about the story of Amin, a former heavyweight boxer and British colonial army sergeant who declared himself president of Uganda following a military coup and ruled for eight years. What effect does having a fictional character tell his story have on the movie and what viewers take away from it?

Message

Social Behavior:

Based on the real-life story of notoriously brutal dictator Idi Amin, the film implicates as well those non-Ugandans who made his rise to power possible, including the British and the CIA.

Consumerism:

BMW, Holiday Inn.

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Frequent drinking and some smoking (cigarettes and cigars).

Violence

Violence is pervasive, including shooting and tank battles; characters are shot in close-up; discussion of assassinations; images of bloody body parts (one woman's body gruesomely appears briefly, cut into sections); the protagonist is tortured by being hung from the ceiling on hooks attached to his chest (gruesome again); a child suffers a frightening epileptic attack.

Sex

Sexual activity/naked body parts in two or three scenes; women perform sensuous dances during celebrations (some are topless); a pregnancy results from an adulterous affair.

Language

Over 20 uses of "f--k," plus other profanity ("hell," etc.).

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs

Newly minted doctor Nicholas (James McAvoy) avoids going into practice with his father by traveling to Uganda, where he imagines he can "make a difference" and have an adventure. When Nicholas is invited to serve as president Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker)'s personal physician, he imagines that he'll get excitement, access, and a chance to "do good" with the new resources at the hospital in Kampala. But Amin's reign quickly turns violent (he kills anyone he deems an enemy and expels 50,000 Asians from Uganda), and Nicholas watches the action and pretends that Amin isn't responsible. The doctor goes so far as to justify his own errors in judgment: He wants to look after Amin's wife Kay (Kerry Washington), currently on the outside because her son is epileptic. As Amin becomes visibly (or more consistently) psychotic and paranoid, Nicholas begins to fear for his own safety.

Is it any good?

4

Harrowing and provocative, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND traces the rise of Idi Amin by taking the perspective of the young Scottish doctor. While the device could seem hackneyed, it's instructive here, for the film never lets viewers forget that the doctor comes to Africa to "play the white man," as Amin puts it, careless and self-indulgent.

As a metaphor, the fictional Nicholas makes clear the insidious means by which the West, and -- in particular -- the Caucasian West, exploits and abuses its privilege in other nations. While The Last King of Scotland makes Nicholas pay dearly and repeatedly for his vanity and willful ignorance, it also encourages your investment in his plight. Still, the fact that Nicholas -- however inadvertently, however much he seems a victim -- is also capable of great horrors (he lets others perform them, then judges them), makes him even more troubling than Amin. He should have known better.

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Parents and kids say

All Reviews

There are 6 reviews.

4


Posted on 02/19/08 by Coldrick Adult contributor
1

Posted on 06/28/07 by Anonymous Adult contributor

This movie was very graffic and sexually explicit. I realize it is probably historically accurate but it was too much for my stomach to take. I would definitely not allow young teens to see.
4


Posted on 06/21/07 by nichts Kid contributor, age 16

Pretty good doc

Having done a research paper on Idi Amin for school some time back, this movie struck me with great interest to see. I was somewhat disappointed that it is from the Scot's point-of-view, and doesn't really seem to expose Amin in ALL his horror. Still, it's a great movie, and does an excellent job of showing the softer and later harder sides of Amin (with props to Whitaker). There are plenty of disturbing scenes, and some unnecessarily vivid sexual scenes. Fine for a middle-teen, but nothing under that, and would probably prove uncomfortable to watch with a parent.
2


Posted on 06/01/07 by jenberger Adult contributor
4


Posted on 04/15/07 by elenmadil Kid contributor, age 15
4


Posted on 10/14/06 by Ghcool Adult contributor

Adult Reviews

There are 4 reviews.

4


Posted on 02/19/08 by Coldrick Adult contributor
1

Posted on 06/28/07 by Anonymous Adult contributor

This movie was very graffic and sexually explicit. I realize it is probably historically accurate but it was too much for my stomach to take. I would definitely not allow young teens to see.
2


Posted on 06/01/07 by jenberger Adult contributor
4


Posted on 10/14/06 by Ghcool Adult contributor

Kids Reviews

There are 2 reviews.

4


Posted on 06/21/07 by nichts Kid contributor, age 16

Pretty good doc

Having done a research paper on Idi Amin for school some time back, this movie struck me with great interest to see. I was somewhat disappointed that it is from the Scot's point-of-view, and doesn't really seem to expose Amin in ALL his horror. Still, it's a great movie, and does an excellent job of showing the softer and later harder sides of Amin (with props to Whitaker). There are plenty of disturbing scenes, and some unnecessarily vivid sexual scenes. Fine for a middle-teen, but nothing under that, and would probably prove uncomfortable to watch with a parent.
4


Posted on 04/15/07 by elenmadil Kid contributor, age 15
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