So I watched "Last King of Scotland" this weekend

[LynneSin]

Fucking AWESOME movie - I loved the soundtrack and Forest Whittaker so deserved that Oscar!! He was Idi Amin

Even though there were some liberties with the Scottish Doctor working for Amin, it showed much of the atrocity that happened under Amin's rule (and trust me if you're weak in the stomach - there are a few sections you might want to skip through).

Great movie - must rent!

[northzax]

1. did you know Idi Amin?

have you studied him, watched old footage, seen interviews with him? how do you know he 'was Idi Amin'? I mean everyone says this, but was he really? or has he now become Idi Amin in the public mind, overshadowing the real Idi Amin? you certainly aren't old enough to remember the events depicted (the only verfiable one being the Entebbe incident) Whitaker did a fabulous job playing an archetypical charming pyschopath and showing the seductive powers of that man, but was that Amin? and if so, how do you know?

I only ask this, by the way, because I walked out of the movie last summer and said the exact same thing. Then I thought to myself, "wait a minute, I couldn't pick Idi Amin out of a lineup of a dozen Central African dicators, I have only a vague understanding of what he did, and a rudimenetary historical memory of the IDF raid on Entebbe, so what do I have to compare this to?" strange, the power of film.

[DS1]

2. I was going to ask that same question

:)

[northzax]

3. same thing with all good historical movies

think of a picture of Ghandi in your mind, and I bet, unless you know an awful lot about Ghandi, the image is Ben Kingsley.

[LynneSin]

6. I just watched Gandhi last night

btw, the "h" is at the end of his name, not the beginning. Although I've read (and watched) plenty of books & articles about Gandhi including many with pictures, you're absolutely right - I still see Ben Kingsley but only because I really haven't read anything recently about Gandhi but I have the DVD.

[LynneSin]

5. Actually yes

I'm a bit of a history nut and have a bizarre fascination about despot rulers, not necessarily the mainstream ones like Hitler or Stalin, but I've read at least one biography about Idi Amin and another on the incident at Entebbe (mind you, this was back at least 10+ years ago). I also remember watching about Entebbe on the news, my brother really was the inspiration for my knowledge of history. So yes, I could probably pick out Amin pictures from a set of pictures and I can even find Uganda on the map (I have a strange knowledge of all the African nations including the capital for each one). Remember, I'm an old fart, so I've seen stories about Amin not only on the news but I remember a story done on him on 60 minutes where they talked about how his regime practically destroyed the environment and wiped out major populations of Elephants and Rhinos found in Africa. Humans weren't the only one tortured in Uganda under Amin; I wish the movie would have showed just a little bit of what Amin had done to the wildlife in his country.

So does that make me an expert? Hell no. But Whittaker did a good job of showing not only the charisma that Idi Amin was known for but also the erratic behavior, the paranoia and the brutality that was a part of the Idi Amin rule. I thought he did a great job in portraying the role

[LostinVA]

8. I also have read alot about despotic rulers, including Amin

And, you're right: Whitaker nailed his "everyman" charisma with his (probable) mental illness or sociopathy.

[LynneSin]

12. You're into that too?

two types of non-fiction I enjoy - stories about despotic rulers and how they finally got ousted and biographies about people with severe drug addictions (some of them do not have happy endings). I also enjoy watching movies & documentaries about both of these

[LostinVA]

13. I totally agree about the first -- books, TV, movies

Not so much the second. However, I like to read about disasters, like the Perfect Storm, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, the Titanic, teh Giants football team. The History Channel had a GREAT show on the Tunguska event last night.

I'm also a WWII buff.

[AngryAmish]

10. I served with Idi Amin,

I knew Idi Amin, Idi Amin was a friend of mine. Northzax, you are no Idi Amin.

[LynneSin]

11. Ok you're just bad

nuff said

[LostinVA]

4. I think James McAlvoy (sic?) should have gotten an Oscar nom

He was VERY good, wasn't he?

[LynneSin]

7. He was good but I'm not sure

I find it odd that there was more of McAlvoy in the movie and sometimes Whittaker seemed like the supporting character.

I guess what bugged me was that McAlvoy's character was fictional although the original book was based loosely on an English (not Scottish) doctor that had worked with Amin. But it was common knowledge for anyone who follows a bit of history that Amin was a big fan of "Scotland" and it's also true that most of the events that they showed in the movie were pretty much real-life facts.

Go figure

[LostinVA]

9. I meant, I thought he did a good job with the part