A Soul of Evil

Have you seen "The Last King of Scotland"?

I finally watched it yesterday after many months of waiting, waiting, waiting to watch it with my hubby.

After going to Ethiopia to bring Gabriella home last year, I have felt Africa and her pain deep in my heart. I cannot explain why. The country and her people touched me in more ways than I can say.

Having said that, I have seen many of the movies demonstrating the sad state of affairs with regard to different problems in Africa .... The Constant Gardener, Rwanda, Blood Diamond and now The Last King of Scotland.

This was a most disturbing movie.

Idi Amin known as The Butcher of Uganda, joined the King's African Rifles, KAR (Britain's colonial African troops), and served in Burma, Somalia, Kenya (during the British suppression of the Mau Mau) and Uganda. Although he was considered a skilled, and somewhat overeager, soldier, Amin developed a reputation for cruelty.

He took power in a military coup in January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extra-judicial killings and the expulsion of Indians from Uganda.

During his regime the number of people killed is unknown; estimates from human rights groups range from 100,000 to 500,000. Dissent within Uganda, and Amin's attempt to annex the Kagera province of Tanzania in 1978, led to the Uganda-Tanzania War and the fall of his regime in 1979. Amin fled to Libya, before relocating to Saudi Arabia in 1981, where he died in 2003.

This movie was loosely based with fictional liberties on the beginning years of his regime.

It graphically displayed the evil deep within the soul of this man.

After this movie was over, I sat physically shaking. I looked at my husband and said, "How can one man hold so much evil in his soul?"
















The only part of this movie that was amazing was the ferociously commanding performance by Forest Whitaker. He was extraordinary. He conveys the charismatic appeal of a popularly-elected official and the oppressive, paranoia of a merciless dictator. He helps the audience understand how a man with so much power can delude himself into believing that his well being benefits the populace.

Whitaker's performance is one of the fiercest, least predictable performances of 2006, so fully on edge that he becomes the movie's edge.

He was so believable that I could feel the evil emanating from this man.