THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

The Last King of Scotland, provides a great stage for the talents of Golden Globe Winner as Best Actor -- Forest Whitaker. His range of emotions runs the entire length of human experience. You will like him and hate him, enjoy seeing him on the screen one moment and desire to curse the sight of him seconds later. I WOULD HAVE GIVEN HIM AN AWARD FOR HIS WORK IN THE 1999 FILM, GHOST DOG - THAT WAS JUST EXCELLENT WORK ON HIS PART AND AS A TOTAL FILM. Forest Whitaker does his job in a magnificent fashion. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the screen-writers. Their attempt to weave a history of the reign of Ugandan Dictator, Idi Amin, with the adventures of a naive young European doctor, never meshes. The attempt to see Amin thru the eyes of the doctor, does not work very well. THE WRITERS SEEM TO WANT TO MAKE THIS YOUNG MAN, AN EQUAL OF THE CENTRAL CHARACTER AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, WE DID NOT COME TO THE THEATRE TO SEE THE SECOND TEAM PLAY THE GAME. FEATURING HIM FOR MUCH OF THE FILM, IS A DISTRACTION, UNLESS HE IS DEALING DIRECTLY WITH GENERAL AMIN. The massive and brutal destruction of life and liberty under the rule of Amin, is trivialized in an attempt to work the doctor's story and active libido into the plot. The doctor is much like a pretty girl in a James Bond movie, there more for appearance than for development of the storyline. ALL THE RECENT AFRICAN THEME PICTURES ARE WRAPPED IN BRUTALITY. I GUESS THIS IS HOW ITALIANS FEEL, WHEN THEY CAN RARELY SEE A FILM THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE THEM IN SOME ILLEGAL OPERATION. I HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT SOME WHERE ON A CONTINENT THE SIZE OF AFRICA, THERE ARE TWO OR EVEN THREE PEOPLE WHO HAVE A STORY TO TELL THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE BUTCHERY. A GOOD PICTURE WAS ALMOST PRESENTED, BUT DIDN'T QUITE MAKE IT TO THE SCREEN.