The Last King of Scotland

"The Last King of Scotland" is based on a book, the book being a mix of fact and fiction. The story revolves around a Scottish doctor who manages to become close to Idi Amin, the new president of Uganda. Idi Amin was a real person, and I'm assuming that the Scottish doctor was the work of fiction. Since I haven't read the book, I can't tell how close the movie was to the book.

The movie won several awards, which I think it deserves. Given that I'm not familiar with Ugandan culture, I can't say how accurately they depicted things, some someone did mention to me that there were some complaint's about choosing Forest Whitaker for the role of Idi Amin (which is ironic since he was nominated for and won some "best male actor" awards for this role).

Setting this aside, though, the movie was very engaging. It's also actually quite creepy in a "realistic" sense. I could feel the fear when Idi Amin gets angry, and it's just nerve wracking whenever you can't tell if he'll have someone killed.

It's historical fiction, and it's not for everyone. To me, it was very good, and I guess the awards show that perhaps I'm not alone in this opinion. If don't mind semi-historical/political flicks, you shouldn't miss this one.