Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (R)

MOVIE BIASES: Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin? Let's ride!

MAJOR PLAYERS: Forest Whitaker (Phone Booth), James McAvoy (The Chronicles of Narnia), Kerry Washington (Little Man), and director Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void)

Arriving in Uganda as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed volunteer doctor, adventure-seeking Scotsman Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy) wants to help the impoverished citizens through the free clinic at which he works with other well-meaning Anglo docs. After taking a fancy to the mission doctor's wife Sarah (Gillian Anderson), Nicholas is soon swept away to the capital of Kampala after a startling roadside meet cute with newly appointed Ugandan president Idi Amin (Whitaker), who is
impressed with Nicholas' audacity (says Amin: "[Nicholas] is the sort of man a president needs around him"). Serving as the official doctor of the president as well as setting medical policy for the nation, Nicholas enjoys the good life that rolling with Amin affords. But as the dark underbelly beneath Amin's charming, unstable smile is slowly revealed and he finds himself trapped within the brutal dictator's
regime, Nicholas finds himself turning to an unlikely source of compassion in the similarly caged soul of Amin's third wife, Kay (Washington).

Based on the Giles Foden novel, "King" is an astonishing, well-rounded piece of art by documentarian Kevin Macdonald in his first foray into filmed fiction. Part character portrait of a flawed but charismatic man, part bildungsroman of a young man and a young country, Macdonald's film lovingly lenses the natural prosperity of Uganda alongside its heart-wrenching poverty, shot on location in and around
Kampala. However, as this is more about Idi Amin and the attractive, hidden poisons of his rule, it's great to see the wealth and intelligence of Africa instead of just the typical, guilt-stricken, Sally Struthers "for only the cost of a cup of coffee a day" images for which the continent is world renown. Macdonald's use of strong
visuals, packed with symbolism and imagery, matched with a first rate sript by Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock, yield a marvelous movie onion-layered with dizzying levels of truth and emotion (An Ugandan doctor urges Nicholas to "Go home and tell the truth about Amin. They will believe you. You are a white man."). Alex Heffes' music - menacing and foreboding, which truly ramps up in the second half - mixes traditional movie score themes with intrinsic African textures to produce an unbilled yet vital supporting character. While the first half of "King" is all footloose and fancy-free, the second half is a tense, paranoia-building descent into the dark political and social realities of Amin's lethal regime. It's a beautiful, brutal movie with the shattering power and pain humanity's capabilities and culpabilities.

Deftly cast, "King"'s support is passionately professional. Simon McBurney (Friends with Money) is snarkily slimy as a flesh-and-blood vestige of the previous British occupation, still oppressing by virtue of his condescending, patronizingly white presence. My gorgeous, chocolate confection perfection Kerry Washington reaffirms her REEL DEAL Crush status with another disappearance into character, voice, and commitment as Amin's neglected young wife Kay, giving a performance just as solid yet not as flashy as her Image Award-winning one in "Ray." James McAvoy, an intriguing young talent from abroad, impresses as the heavy lifting of story continuity and development lands on his slim, Scottish shoulders. It is through his Nicholas' callow, idealistic eyes that we filter Amin, at first despising Nicholas for his penchant for married women, but then pitying him as his confident, mischievous blue eyes turn to iceberg cold fear for his life. He embodies the slow corruption of money and power, how it's a stairway to Hell up which you cannot go back. It's a relatable loss of innocence as you lose your admiration for Amin right alongside young Nicholas'.

But all this is window dressing for Forest Whitaker, in a sure-to-be-talked-about performance that is nothing short of mesmerizing. Grounded by an engaging, inclusive smile and a blustery confidence befitting a man who claims to be a people's leader, Whitaker's Amin is a beguiling, firecracker of a personality that can
seduce as much as suppress; you never know when he's going to go off. Amin loves sycophants yet desires independent thinkers; he craves sound advice but may shoot you if you disagree or offend him - he is the ultimate contradiction. Yet his rationale behind it all is rooted in, natch, childhood issues that are, unfortunately, played across a national stage at the cost of 300,000 Ugandan lives. You may not buy his brand of crazy, but at least you understand which factory that
makes it and why. Whitaker's smile keeps you hooked until Amin's mania sets in, and you can see how Amin's (well-based) paranoia is infectious. Despite his overarching, toxic inconsistencies, Whitaker's Amin proves a compelling, flawed figure with many a charming idiosyncrasy (like, for example, his love of all things Scottish, for their fierce defiance to British rule, a la Uganda). When the final,
true horror of Amin is unleashed, it's as heartbreaking as it is unwatchable; we are witness to a man succumbing to the evil in his nature, instead of watching the nature of an evil man. It's an Oscar-WINNING performance; anything less than an Academy Award nomination is heresy and completely unacceptable.

Put simply, this is a great film about a great, terrible man who, despite his claim that he knows "precisely when [he] will die," is terribly afraid of death. "If you're afraid of dying, then that shows you have a life worth keeping," declares young Nicholas. While Ugandans and the court of world opinion may disagree about the
worthiness of Amin's life, his is a fascinating one deserving of nothing less than this chilling, thrilling, fictionalized portrayal.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (R) MOVIE BIASES: Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin? Let's ride! MAJOR PLAYERS: Forest Whitaker (Phone Booth), James McAvoy (The Chronicles of Narnia), Kerry Washington (Little Man), and director Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void) Arriving in Uganda as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed volunteer doctor, adventure-seeking Scotsman Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy) wants to help the impoverished citizens through the free clinic at which he works with other well-meaning Anglo docs. After taking a fancy to the mission doctor's wife Sarah (Gillian Anderson), Nicholas is soon swept away to the capital of Kampala after a startling roadside meet cute with newly appointed Ugandan president Idi Amin (Whitaker), who is impressed with Nicholas' audacity (says Amin: "[Nicholas] is the sort of man a president needs around him"). Serving as the official doctor of the president as well as setting medical policy for the nation, Nicholas enjoys the good life that rolling with Amin affords. But as the dark underbelly beneath Amin's charming, unstable smile is slowly revealed and he finds himself trapped within the brutal dictator's regime, Nicholas finds himself turning to an unlikely source of compassion in the similarly caged soul of Amin's third wife, Kay (Washington). Based on the Giles Foden novel, "King" is an astonishing, well-rounded piece of art by documentarian Kevin Macdonald in his first foray into filmed fiction. Part character portrait of a flawed but charismatic man, part bildungsroman of a young man and a young country, Macdonald's film lovingly lenses the natural prosperity of Uganda alongside its heart-wrenching poverty, shot on location in and around Kampala. However, as this is more about Idi Amin and the attractive, hidden poisons of his rule, it's great to see the wealth and intelligence of Africa instead of just the typical, guilt-stricken, Sally Struthers "for only the cost of a cup of coffee a day" images for which the continent is world renown. Macdonald's use of strong visuals, packed with symbolism and imagery, matched with a first rate sript by Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock, yield a marvelous movie onion-layered with dizzying levels of truth and emotion (An Ugandan doctor urges Nicholas to "Go home and tell the truth about Amin. They will believe you. You are a white man."). Alex Heffes' music - menacing and foreboding, which truly ramps up in the second half - mixes traditional movie score themes with intrinsic African textures to produce an unbilled yet vital supporting character. While the first half of "King" is all footloose and fancy-free, the second half is a tense, paranoia-building descent into the dark political and social realities of Amin's lethal regime. It's a beautiful, brutal movie with the shattering power and pain humanity's capabilities and culpabilities. Deftly cast, "King"'s support is passionately professional. Simon McBurney (Friends with Money) is snarkily slimy as a flesh-and-blood vestige of the previous British occupation, still oppressing by virtue of his condescending, patronizingly white presence. My gorgeous, chocolate confection perfection Kerry Washington reaffirms her REEL DEAL Crush status with another disappearance into character, voice, and commitment as Amin's neglected young wife Kay, giving a performance just as solid yet not as flashy as her Image Award-winning one in "Ray." James McAvoy, an intriguing young talent from abroad, impresses as the heavy lifting of story continuity and development lands on his slim, Scottish shoulders. It is through his Nicholas' callow, idealistic eyes that we filter Amin, at first despising Nicholas for his penchant for married women, but then pitying him as his confident, mischievous blue eyes turn to iceberg cold fear for his life. He embodies the slow corruption of money and power, how it's a stairway to Hell up which you cannot go back. It's a relatable loss of innocence as you lose your admiration for Amin right alongside young Nicholas'. But all this is window dressing for Forest Whitaker, in a sure-to-be-talked-about performance that is nothing short of mesmerizing. Grounded by an engaging, inclusive smile and a blustery confidence befitting a man who claims to be a people's leader, Whitaker's Amin is a beguiling, firecracker of a personality that can seduce as much as suppress; you never know when he's going to go off. Amin loves sycophants yet desires independent thinkers; he craves sound advice but may shoot you if you disagree or offend him - he is the ultimate contradiction. Yet his rationale behind it all is rooted in, natch, childhood issues that are, unfortunately, played across a national stage at the cost of 300,000 Ugandan lives. You may not buy his brand of crazy, but at least you understand which factory that makes it and why. Whitaker's smile keeps you hooked until Amin's mania sets in, and you can see how Amin's (well-based) paranoia is infectious. Despite his overarching, toxic inconsistencies, Whitaker's Amin proves a compelling, flawed figure with many a charming idiosyncrasy (like, for example, his love of all things Scottish, for their fierce defiance to British rule, a la Uganda). When the final, true horror of Amin is unleashed, it's as heartbreaking as it is unwatchable; we are witness to a man succumbing to the evil in his nature, instead of watching the nature of an evil man. It's an Oscar-WINNING performance; anything less than an Academy Award nomination is heresy and completely unacceptable. Put simply, this is a great film about a great, terrible man who, despite his claim that he knows "precisely when [he] will die," is terribly afraid of death. "If you're afraid of dying, then that shows you have a life worth keeping," declares young Nicholas. While Ugandans and the court of world opinion may disagree about the worthiness of Amin's life, his is a fascinating one deserving of nothing less than this chilling, thrilling, fictionalized portrayal. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson