The Last King of Scotland

When a naive young doctor arrives in 1970’s Uganda he finds himself on a shocking ride into the darkest realm on earth: the human heart. A powerful thriller that recreates the world of Uganda under the mad dictatorship of Idi Amin, The Last King of Scotland deftly mixes fact and fiction to create a story startlingly resonant in today’s world. Young Scottish physician Nicholas Garrigan jets off to Uganda looking for excitement, romance and the joy of helping a country that truly needs his medical skills and through a bizarre chain of events finds himself facing an offer so incredible, he cannot refuse. When Garrigan is called to the scene of an accident he finds Idi Amin, Uganda’s newly installed leader, has smashed his Maserati into a hapless cow. Amin takes an instant liking to Garrigan and soon offers him the unlikely job of becoming his personal physician. But as time goes on, Garrigan's own desire for power seduces him into becoming the dictator's confidante, consultant and right hand man. Ultimately he finds himself witnessing increasingly unsettling events -- including kidnappings, assassinations and unspeakable atrocities in which he himself may be complicit. Trapped in the moral abyss of Amin’s murderous megalomania, Garrigan nearly loses his soul. But when he finally dares to try to stop the insanity, he winds up in a desperate fight for survival. The film features a tour de force performance from Forest Whitaker as Amin and carves two unforgettable portraits: one of a charismatic but psychopathic ruler who ravaged his country and the other, of a witness to history who finally finds the courage to make a stand. The Last King of Scotland is based on Giles Foden’s award-winning novel of the same name and was filmed on location in Scotland and Uganda with full support of the Ugandan government.