The word intensity sums up the movie The Last King of Scotland. The film brings the intensity and horror of what has happened in many places around the world to the silver screen. Based on true events, The Last King of Scotland was modeled after a 1998 award-winning novel of the same name written by Giles Foden. Foden is an English-born journalist who was raised in Malawi, Africa. The novel tells the story of a young doctor who moves to Uganda, only to end up fighting for his life. Uganda became an independent nation in 1962. This brought in an age of statically changing government and coups became regular event, as Uganda went through six of them at the time. The regime of Idi Amin was one of the most cruel ever. He openly persecuted many ethnic groups and killed an estimated 300,000 Ugandans. The film begins with a young man, Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), completing medical school. He decides to practice his profession in Uganda. The film starts out with the stereotypical “saint” story where a promising young citizen decides to throw away his riches in an effort to help others. Coincidently, Garrigan arrives during a coup, and in a freak accident he meets the new president, Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), of Uganda. Amin cordially invites Garrigan to be his personal physician. Amin tells Garrigan that there is no better way to help the people of Uganda than to help their leader. Garrigan is skeptical at first but comes to trust Amin. As the movie unfolds, the young doctor realizes Amin’s peculiarities. Amin’s lunacy starts to become very clear when he imposed drastic measures, including the expulsion of all Asians from the country. It is also brought to Garrigan’s attention that there have been many odd disappearances, which turn out to be executions. Gallimard goes from thinking he is in paradise to realizing he is in the middle of all Hell on earth. The movie turns into Garrigan fighting to survive in a world where violence is met by violence. Continued from page 1 The movie did a good job of showing the Amin’s personalities but fictionalized most of the rest of the plot line. “The movie was intense, most of the plot was made up, but they did an excellent job in portraying Amin,” social studies teacher Tim Mooney said. Mooney takes students to Uganda every year and has a graduate degree in African studies. “It is definitely an excellent film but I would warn younger children not to view it”. The viewer cannot be warned enough of the intensity before viewing the film. Be prepared to see multiple sex scenes, and multiple scenes of mutilated bodies. By the end of the film it isn’t even surprising to see one of the supporting characters get indiscriminately shot in the head. The Last King of Scotland is a powerful movie which anyone interested in African culture or history should see. It is one of the most ardent movies of modern times; it was not made to be a horror film, but at times seems like it is. The Last King of Scotland is an award winning film that has received wide critical acclaim for the way the film captures the charm and madness of Idi Amin. While it is very intense and violent, The Last King of Scotland is a powerful and moving film.