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** The thought of being trapped in a foreign country with no way to get out--it doesn't help that there are numerous RealLife horror stories about this.
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* MaleFrontalNudity: Nicholas, briefly.
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* TooDumbToLive: Sleeping with Amin's wife, after you've seen what he's capable of? Not making every effort to conceal your affair? Not using protection, leading to her pregnancy and subsequently [[spoiler: her death?]] Sorry, Nicholas, you brought what follows on yourself.
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* TooDumbToLive: Sleeping with Amin's wife, after you've seen what he's capable of? Not making every effort to conceal your affair? Not using protection, leading to her pregnancy and subsequently subsequent [[spoiler: her death?]] Sorry, Nicholas, you brought what follows on yourself.
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: {{Subverted}}. Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country. As the movie goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that Amin is a actually psychopath [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans and that he just enjoys being a murderous dictator.]]
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: {{Subverted}}. Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country. As the movie goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that Amin is a actually a psychopath [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans and that he just enjoys being a murderous dictator.]]
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* BlackAndGreyMorality: Nicholas is initially deeply contemptuous of the SmugSnake British diplomat Stone, but while Stone is clearly someone with ambiguous ethics himself, it quickly becomes apparent that Amin is a thousand times worse. Unfortunately, Nicholas's earlier contempt and blindness comes back to bite him, since Stone makes it clear that he is going to demand a high price in exchange for his help in getting Nicholas out of the country. Nicholas himself is also not a paragon, being a rather selfish, naive and venal man for much of the movie.
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* BlackAndGreyMorality: BlackAndGrayMorality: Nicholas is initially deeply contemptuous of the SmugSnake British diplomat Stone, but while Stone is clearly someone with ambiguous ethics himself, it quickly becomes apparent that Amin is a thousand times worse. Unfortunately, Nicholas's Nicholas' earlier contempt and blindness comes back to bite him, since Stone makes it clear that he is going to demand a high price in exchange for his help in getting Nicholas out of the country. Nicholas himself is also not a paragon, being a rather selfish, naive and venal man for much of the movie.
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* FatalFlaw: Nicholas's naivety. Also, his desire for risks and adventure; throughout the movie, he keeps making rejecting the safe (and in his mind, boring) option in favour of something more risky and exciting, only for it to become increasingly clear as things get much worse for him that he really should have stayed with the safe option.
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* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Creator/ForestWhitaker's Idi Amin. Whitaker is also billed first even though [=McAvoy=] is in much more of the movie.
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* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Creator/ForestWhitaker's Idi Amin. Whitaker is also billed first even though [=McAvoy=] [=MacAvoy=] is in much more of the movie.
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* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Creator/ForestWhitaker's Idi Amin.
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* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Creator/ForestWhitaker's Idi Amin. Whitaker is also billed first even though [=McAvoy=] is in much more of the movie.
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: {{Subverted}}. Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country. It becomes increasingly clear that Amin is a psychopath [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans and just loves being a dictator.]]
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: {{Subverted}}. Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country. It As the movie goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that Amin is a actually psychopath [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans and that he just loves enjoys being a murderous dictator.]]
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: {{Subverted}}. Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country. It becomes increasingly clear that Amin [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans just loves being a dictator.]]
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: {{Subverted}}. Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country. It becomes increasingly clear that Amin is a psychopath [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans and just loves being a dictator.]]
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country.
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* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: {{Subverted}}. Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country.country. It becomes increasingly clear that Amin [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans just loves being a dictator.]]
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* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin.
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* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Forest Whitaker's Creator/ForestWhitaker's Idi Amin.
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* LargeHam: Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin. His effort in portraying the dictator didn't go unnoticed, as [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome he won 23 awards]] for his role.
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* LargeHam: Forest Whitaker Creator/ForestWhitaker as Idi Amin. His effort in portraying the dictator didn't go unnoticed, as [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome he won 23 awards]] for his role.
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* FullCircleRevolution: Correctly predicts that in two years Amin's regime would be as bad, if not worse, than Obote's. Every time a new leader replaces an old one, there's much rejoicing in the streets.
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* FullCircleRevolution: Correctly predicts In tandem with HistoryRepeats. Creator/GillianAnderson's character, Sarah, [[GenreSavvy correctly predicts]] that in two years Amin's regime would be as bad, if not worse, than Obote's. Every time a new leader replaces an old one, there's much rejoicing in the streets.
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The movie doesn\'t present Obote as heroic, and in fact it\'s more than implied to be another link of the Full Circle Revolution, just like in real life.
* FullCircleRevolution: Correctly predicts that in two years Amin's regime would be as bad, if not worse, than Obote's. Every time a new leader replaces an old one, there's much rejoicing in the streets.
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* HeroAntagonist: Obote, the leader of the last remaining opposition to Amin.
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* NewEraSpeech: In his first scene, Amin delivers a rousing speech about how things are going to improve under his leadership.
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* ForeignCultureFetish: Amin is fascinated by Scottish culture, going as far as proclaiming himself "the last king of Scotland" (hence the title).
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* PrecisionFStrike:
--> '''Amin''': ...or are you like all the other British? Just here to fuck, and then take away?
--> '''Amin''': ...or are you like all the other British? Just here to fuck, and then take away?
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* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Nicholas Garrigan is based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Astles Bob Astles]], whose role in the events of Idi Amin's reign is controversial, to say the least.
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* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Nicholas Garrigan is based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Astles Bob Astles]], whose role Astles]] (he wasn't Scottish), who was imprisoned twice for his association to Ugandan presidents, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Obote Milton Obote]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin Idi Amin]]. Astles in real life was a MinionWithAnFInEvil; Garrigan on the events of Idi Amin's reign other hand is controversial, to say a LoveableRogue[=/=]JerkassWoobie who, it is implied, helps bring down the least.Amin regime.
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* BlackAndGreyMorality: Nicholas is initially deeply contemptuous of the SmugSnake British diplomat Stone, but while Stone is clearly someone with ambiguous ethics himself, it quickly becomes apparent that Amin is a thousand times worse. Unfortunately, Nicholas's earlier contempt and blindness comes back to bite him, since Stone makes it clear that he is going to demand a high price in exchange for his help in getting Nicholas out of the country. Nicholas himself is also not an exemplar, being a rather selfish, naive and venal man for much of the movie.
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* BlackAndGreyMorality: Nicholas is initially deeply contemptuous of the SmugSnake British diplomat Stone, but while Stone is clearly someone with ambiguous ethics himself, it quickly becomes apparent that Amin is a thousand times worse. Unfortunately, Nicholas's earlier contempt and blindness comes back to bite him, since Stone makes it clear that he is going to demand a high price in exchange for his help in getting Nicholas out of the country. Nicholas himself is also not an exemplar, a paragon, being a rather selfish, naive and venal man for much of the movie.
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* BlackAndGreyMorality: Nicholas is initially deeply contemptuous of the SmugSnake British diplomat Stone, but while Stone is clearly someone with ambiguous ethics himself, it quickly becomes apparent that Amin is a thousand times worse. Unfortunately, Nicholas's earlier contempt and blindness comes back to bite him, since Stone makes it clear that he is going to demand a high price in exchange for his help in getting Nicholas out of the country. Nicholas himself is also not an exemplar, being a rather selfish, naive and venal man for much of the movie.
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* WideEyedIdealist: Deconstructed; Garrigan's idealism when it comes to Amin is ultimately revealed to be naiveté on an almost unforgivable scale.
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* BodyDouble: Amin uses one to briefly to trick Nicholas when he comes to talk to him.
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* AntagonistTitle: Brutal dictator Idi Amin is the eponymous Last King of Scotland (which was a real life title he took for himself).
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* AntagonistTitle: Brutal dictator Idi Amin is the eponymous Last King of Scotland referred to by the film's title (which was a real life title he took for himself).himself). Nick Garrigan is the protagonist.
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* AntagonistTitle: Brutal dictator Idi Amin is the eponymous Last King of Scotland (which was a real life title he took for himself).
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* FauxAffablyEvil: Idi Amin. TruthInTelevision as the real Amin was quite charming despite being every bit the [[TheCaligula unstable tyrant]] he's depicted as in the film.
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* FauxAffablyEvil: Idi Amin. TruthInTelevision as the real Amin was quite charming despite being every bit the [[TheCaligula unstable tyrant]] he's depicted as in the film. Even {{lampshaded}} by the TagLine.
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Vandalism clean-up.
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!!This movie contains examples of:
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!This movie contains examples of:
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** Admittedly the only sex we see came right after one hell of a drinking montage, so at the time he was probably drunk out of his mind.
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** Admittedly the only sex we see came right after one hell of a drinking montage, so at the time [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy he was probably drunk out of his mind.mind]].
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--->'''Kay:''' He visits the children. Not me. He thinks that I am a bad omen.
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* VillainousBreakdown: Well, to say VillainousBreakdown would imply that he was stable at one point, but Amin still counts.
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* VillainousBreakdown: Well, to say VillainousBreakdown Villainous Breakdown would imply that he was stable at one point, but Amin still counts.
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->''I am the father of this nation, Nicholas. And you have most... grossly... offended your father...''
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->''"I am the father of this nation, Nicholas. And you have most... grossly... offended your father...
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!!This movie contains examples of:
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* BittersweetEnding: Well, since this is a biography, many people know that in the end, Amin was overthrown. However, considering what happened in the movie and the fact that the demise of Amin's regime is only mentioned in the credits, it's not exactly a happy ending. For Nicholas, it's more of a DownerEnding.
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* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: After he's done humiliating Nicholas for not believing him about Amin's atrocities sooner, Stone offers his help...in exchange for assassinating Amin. Subverted in the fact that Nicholas initially refuses to do so, before [[spoiler: Kay's brutal murder proves to be the final straw for him and pushes him into action]].
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* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: After he's done humiliating Nicholas for not believing him about Amin's atrocities sooner, Stone offers his help... in exchange for assassinating Amin. Subverted in the fact that Nicholas initially refuses to do so, before [[spoiler: Kay's brutal murder proves to be the final straw for him and pushes him into action]].
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->''I am the father of this nation, Nicholas. And you have most... grossly... offended your father...''
-->'''Idi Amin'''
''The Last King of Scotland'' is a critically acclaimed 2006 FilmOfTheBook which fictionalizes the rise and fall of Idi Amin, the infamous dictator from [[UsefulNotes/{{Uganda}} Uganda]].
The movie starts with the protagonist, Nicholas Garrigan, who rebels against his father by leaving to work as a doctor in Uganda. While working in a missionary hospital in Uganda and being hot for the married Sarah Meritt, TheCasanova Garrigan meets Idi Amin, a charismatic general who is so impressed with him that he appoints him to become his personal doctor. Soon Idi Amin descends from ([[VillainWithGoodPublicity seemingly]]) being an AntiHero and AffablyEvil to a BadBoss and TheCaligula. Nicholas Garrigan plays the role of a WideEyedIdealist, first by overlooking a lot of Amin's bloodthirsty antics by convincing himself that it is necessary to bring peace to Uganda, and believing that things would get better as Amin's enemies are eliminated. Unsurprisingly, he is wrong. It does not help that he falls in love with Amin's youngest and discarded wife Kay, which soon leads him in a confrontation.
----
!!This movie contains examples of:
* AdultFear: Nicholas' situation. Imagine if you were friends with someone who's the leader of a nation and then they are being accused of being a dictator. Naturally you defend them, but what would you do when the accusations turn out to be ''facts'' and you watch your friend become unstable to the point where he'll kill anyone who does something he doesn't like, including you yourself?
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Every female, single or married, in the movie seems to hit on Garrigan. Also, Amin had three wives, but they probably did not have much of a choice.
* AmbitionIsEvil: And how.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: After he's done humiliating Nicholas for not believing him about Amin's atrocities sooner, Stone offers his help...in exchange for assassinating Amin. Subverted in the fact that Nicholas initially refuses to do so, before [[spoiler: Kay's brutal murder proves to be the final straw for him and pushes him into action]].
* BatmanGambit: Done by Nicholas in order to kill Amin. It doesn't work and the consequences for doing so are not to be envied.
* BaitTheDog: The central theme of the movie, both for Nicholas, and the audience.
* BigBad: Amin.
* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin.
* BrokenPedestal: Slowly but surely, Nicholas becomes disillusioned and then disgusted with Amin, the man he initially held in high esteem.
** One can probably guess that Kay's son Mackenzie, who Nicholas saved once, would also count for this trope considering the fact that Nicholas essentially [[spoiler: caused his mother to be killed gruesomely at the hands of his father. It doesn't really help that when Nicholas finds Kay's body in the hospital, Mackenzie is giving him a look that screams "this is your fault, isn't it?".]]
* TheCaligula: Amin, obviously.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Do ''not'' watch the last half hour or so of this movie if you've just eaten.
** Amin says the technique [[spoiler: he used to torture Nicholas]] comes from a similar punishment in his childhood, with a tree, where every scream of the victim is evil leaving their body.
* CrapsackWorld: Uganda under Amin.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Sorry, Kay.]].
* CulturalPosturing: Amin thoroughly indulges in black nationalism, extolling Africa as the cradle of civilization and Uganda as the heart of the world.
* DeadpanSnarker: Both Garrigan and Amin.
* DecoyLeader: Nicholas mistakes an Amin double for the real thing.
* DoubleStandard: Kay, one of Amin's ''three'' wives, is discarded by him because he holds her at fault for their child having epilepsy, yet he's enraged at the discovery of ''her'' infidelity.
* EvilIsHammy: Amin.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Amin.
* FallenHero: Nicholas Garrigan.
** Amin definitely qualifies [[FromACertainPointOfView from Garrigan's perspective]].
* {{Fanservice}}: Topless gogo dancers with a side order of James [=MacAvoy's=] arse. [[MaleFrontalNudity And front.]]
* FanDisservice: [[spoiler: Kay's]] body is found completely naked. Aside from the standard "dead bodies are [[{{Squick}} Squicky]]" effect, there's also the fact that [[spoiler: her arms and legs have swapped positions]], resulting in a grotesque figure.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Idi Amin. TruthInTelevision as the real Amin was quite charming despite being every bit the [[TheCaligula unstable tyrant]] he's depicted as in the film.
* ForeignCorrespondent: Nicholas
* HannibalLecture: Amin gives one to Nicholas, after finding out that the latter had an affair with the former's wife Kay. Amin derides Nicholas for thinking that everything is a game, and telling him that [[spoiler: Nicholas' death may be the first real thing that happens to him.]] See also MightyWhitey below.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Obote and the Israelis.
* HeroAntagonist: Obote, the leader of the last remaining opposition to Amin.
* HeroicSacrifice: Essentially what [[spoiler: Dr. Junju]] does, [[spoiler: healing Nicholas (tortured for betrayed Amin), freeing him, and secretly sending him on a plane out of Uganda]] knowing the consequences and simply saying "I don't know" when asked why he did it. And one of Amin's men promptly shoots him in the head.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Nicholas Garrigan is based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Astles Bob Astles]], whose role in the events of Idi Amin's reign is controversial, to say the least.
* {{Hypocrite}}: When Nicholas tries to convince Amin not to exile the Indians, Amin ridicules him for begging for his "fucking Asian tailors" also says that he's a nobody. When the media has a field day with this fact, Amin says that he should have never done that and asks Nicholas why he didn't convince him not to, saying that he's his "personal advisor".
* [[InSeriesNickname In Film Nickname]]: Stone informs Nicholas that the public refers to him as "Amin's white monkey".
* IAmAHumanitarian: Jokingly [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by Amin himself during the first formal dinner scene. Also, rumours about Amin's cannibalism are given a nod.
* IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles: They are [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen described]] as raiding Entebbe before the credits roll.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Stone, the SmugSnake British Foreign Office representative that Garrigan hates, eventually turns out to be right about Amin's brutality. In no way is he nice about making his point to Nicholas when the doctor comes for his help after [[spoiler: Amin replaces Nicholas' British passport with a Ugandan one to prevent him from escaping.]] and tells him that the only way he'll help is if Nicholas does his bidding.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The only major characters left alive at the end of the film are Amin and Garrigan.]]
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler: Dr. Junju, for helping Nicholas out of Uganda.]] One of Amin's men shoots him in the head, just as he mentions his wife.
* LargeHam: Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin. His effort in portraying the dictator didn't go unnoticed, as [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome he won 23 awards]] for his role.
* MightyWhitey: Subverted and/or deconstructed. Nicholas believes, at first, that he can solve Uganda's problems (well, at least some of them), but fails miserably. {{Lampshaded}} towards the end, when Amin admonishes Nicholas for trying to "play the "white man and the natives" game".
** In Nicholas' partial defense, he only went to Uganda because he randomly pointed to a spinning globe. However, Uganda was his second spin; Canada was his first spin. Should have gone with the safe option.
** Played straight in the end, when [[spoiler: Dr. Junju says his reason for helping Nicholas to escape is so that Nicholas can tell the world of Amin's atrocities, saying that they will believe him because he is a white man.]]
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: Nicholas receives an order from Amin's soldiers that he is very sick and when he visits him, Amin himself believes that he was poisoned by Obote's men. Turns out [[CrowningMomentOfFunny the problem was just built up gas due to Amin mixing beer with aspirin]].
** FridgeBrilliance: It's possible Amin never really believed it was anything serious, and just acted like that to [[ManipulativeBastard bring Nicholas closer to his circle.]]
** Also how the two of them meet: Nick and Sara get pulled over by soldiers looking for a doctor after Amin is injured in a car accident with a cow. Turns out Amin only sprained his hand, but the way he and his guards act, you's think he had been severely injured--he even later introduces Nicholas as "the man who saved my life".
* MoodSwinger: Amin can go from affable to bloodthirsty to paranoid and to depressed. As he is shown to be TheCaligula it is just a matter of time.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The guy Nicholas reports and accidentally gets murdered was actually just trying to bring more medicine to uganda.
* OhCrap: Nicholas has several of these; First when he discovers that [[spoiler: Amin replaced his British passport with a Ugandan one]], then when Stone shows him all the atrocities that's happening in the countryside and what Amin did to eliminate his opposition, then [[spoiler: when he [[CruelAndUnusualDeath finds]] [[{{Squick}} Kay's body]]]] and finally, there's when his BatmanGambit to kill Amin fails and when Amin tells him that he knows about his affair with Kay.
* ProperlyParanoid: Definitely averted by Amin, but played straight with Nicholas, who tries to find a way to get out of Uganda without being seen by Amin's men, who were ordered by Amin himself to prevent this.
* PsychopathicManchild: Idi Amin.
-->'''Nicholas Garrigan:''' You're a child. That's what makes you so fucking scary.
* ScaryBlackMan: Amin, of course.
* ShoutOut: To Theatre/KingLear - 'nothing comes from nothing'
* SidelongGlanceBiopic
* ShutUpHannibal: Continuing on from the "Hannibal Lecture" cited above, after Amin's men have pummeled Garrigan and are about to severely torture him, Amin (with arguable degrees of accuracy) accuses him of being a white man who came to Africa as if it were all a game, to screw the local women and act like it was a giant vacation. Whatever Garrigan's personal faults might be, his retort to this is to finally state to Amin's face what none of his inner circle ever had the courage to point out, no matter how ridiculously obvious it increasingly became: "You are a child".
* StarcrossedLovers: Kay and Garrigan.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: Amin's wife Kay,]] whose body is found inside a hospital... with some body parts [[{{Squick}} rearranged.]]
* TestedOnHumans: Amin's bodyguard forces a ChildSoldier to swallow one of the poisoned headache pills Garrigan had prepared for Amin, causing Garrigan to give himself away.
* TitleDrop: Amin, who has an affinity for Scottish culture, refers to himself as "The Last King of Scotland" in one of his speeches.
* TooDumbToLive: Sleeping with Amin's wife, after you've seen what he's capable of? Not making every effort to conceal your affair? Not using protection, leading to her pregnancy and subsequently [[spoiler: her death?]] Sorry, Nicholas, you brought what follows on yourself.
** Admittedly the only sex we see came right after one hell of a drinking montage, so at the time he was probably drunk out of his mind.
** He continued to see her even before he found out she was pregnant.
** Not to mention completely ignoring that Amin was committing bald-faced atrocities on his own people, in lieu of accepting Amin's explanation that cracking down on Obote's remaining supporters will bring a lasting peace to the country and that the guy was utterly insane (Though to be fair, Amin's AffablyEvil nature did a good job masking his insanity up until the middle of the movie).
* UglyGuyHotWife: Amin (if not so much in looks, ''definitely'' in personality) and Kay (presumably the other of his wives as well)
* TheUnfavorite: Kay, the youngest of Amin's three wives. She was exiled by Amin because she gave birth to an epileptic son.
--->'''Kay:''' He visits the children. Not me. He thinks that I am a bad omen.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: While Idi Amin did exist and was a horrible dictator Garrigan is a fictional character that incorporates some of Bob Astles' experiences.
* VillainousBreakdown: Well, to say VillainousBreakdown would imply that he was stable at one point, but Amin still counts.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Amin again.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Nicholas, [[spoiler: when he finds Kay's body.]]
* WallBangHer: Nicholas. [[TooDumbToLive With Amin's wife, of all people.]]
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: Nicholas' has a T-shirt with the Scottish flag. Amin swaps his military shirt for it.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Sara and the mission are totally abandoned when Nick becomes Amin's physician.
** They are seen again towards the end, being evacuated as the situation worsens. Yet another "safer option" he should have stuck with, rather than letting himself be drawn into Amin's circle.
----
-->'''Idi Amin'''
''The Last King of Scotland'' is a critically acclaimed 2006 FilmOfTheBook which fictionalizes the rise and fall of Idi Amin, the infamous dictator from [[UsefulNotes/{{Uganda}} Uganda]].
The movie starts with the protagonist, Nicholas Garrigan, who rebels against his father by leaving to work as a doctor in Uganda. While working in a missionary hospital in Uganda and being hot for the married Sarah Meritt, TheCasanova Garrigan meets Idi Amin, a charismatic general who is so impressed with him that he appoints him to become his personal doctor. Soon Idi Amin descends from ([[VillainWithGoodPublicity seemingly]]) being an AntiHero and AffablyEvil to a BadBoss and TheCaligula. Nicholas Garrigan plays the role of a WideEyedIdealist, first by overlooking a lot of Amin's bloodthirsty antics by convincing himself that it is necessary to bring peace to Uganda, and believing that things would get better as Amin's enemies are eliminated. Unsurprisingly, he is wrong. It does not help that he falls in love with Amin's youngest and discarded wife Kay, which soon leads him in a confrontation.
----
!!This movie contains examples of:
* AdultFear: Nicholas' situation. Imagine if you were friends with someone who's the leader of a nation and then they are being accused of being a dictator. Naturally you defend them, but what would you do when the accusations turn out to be ''facts'' and you watch your friend become unstable to the point where he'll kill anyone who does something he doesn't like, including you yourself?
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Every female, single or married, in the movie seems to hit on Garrigan. Also, Amin had three wives, but they probably did not have much of a choice.
* AmbitionIsEvil: And how.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: After he's done humiliating Nicholas for not believing him about Amin's atrocities sooner, Stone offers his help...in exchange for assassinating Amin. Subverted in the fact that Nicholas initially refuses to do so, before [[spoiler: Kay's brutal murder proves to be the final straw for him and pushes him into action]].
* BatmanGambit: Done by Nicholas in order to kill Amin. It doesn't work and the consequences for doing so are not to be envied.
* BaitTheDog: The central theme of the movie, both for Nicholas, and the audience.
* BigBad: Amin.
* BillingDisplacement: The central character is Nicholas. Yet the most remembered part is of course Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin.
* BrokenPedestal: Slowly but surely, Nicholas becomes disillusioned and then disgusted with Amin, the man he initially held in high esteem.
** One can probably guess that Kay's son Mackenzie, who Nicholas saved once, would also count for this trope considering the fact that Nicholas essentially [[spoiler: caused his mother to be killed gruesomely at the hands of his father. It doesn't really help that when Nicholas finds Kay's body in the hospital, Mackenzie is giving him a look that screams "this is your fault, isn't it?".]]
* TheCaligula: Amin, obviously.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Do ''not'' watch the last half hour or so of this movie if you've just eaten.
** Amin says the technique [[spoiler: he used to torture Nicholas]] comes from a similar punishment in his childhood, with a tree, where every scream of the victim is evil leaving their body.
* CrapsackWorld: Uganda under Amin.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Sorry, Kay.]].
* CulturalPosturing: Amin thoroughly indulges in black nationalism, extolling Africa as the cradle of civilization and Uganda as the heart of the world.
* DeadpanSnarker: Both Garrigan and Amin.
* DecoyLeader: Nicholas mistakes an Amin double for the real thing.
* DoubleStandard: Kay, one of Amin's ''three'' wives, is discarded by him because he holds her at fault for their child having epilepsy, yet he's enraged at the discovery of ''her'' infidelity.
* EvilIsHammy: Amin.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Amin.
* FallenHero: Nicholas Garrigan.
** Amin definitely qualifies [[FromACertainPointOfView from Garrigan's perspective]].
* {{Fanservice}}: Topless gogo dancers with a side order of James [=MacAvoy's=] arse. [[MaleFrontalNudity And front.]]
* FanDisservice: [[spoiler: Kay's]] body is found completely naked. Aside from the standard "dead bodies are [[{{Squick}} Squicky]]" effect, there's also the fact that [[spoiler: her arms and legs have swapped positions]], resulting in a grotesque figure.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Idi Amin. TruthInTelevision as the real Amin was quite charming despite being every bit the [[TheCaligula unstable tyrant]] he's depicted as in the film.
* ForeignCorrespondent: Nicholas
* HannibalLecture: Amin gives one to Nicholas, after finding out that the latter had an affair with the former's wife Kay. Amin derides Nicholas for thinking that everything is a game, and telling him that [[spoiler: Nicholas' death may be the first real thing that happens to him.]] See also MightyWhitey below.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Obote and the Israelis.
* HeroAntagonist: Obote, the leader of the last remaining opposition to Amin.
* HeroicSacrifice: Essentially what [[spoiler: Dr. Junju]] does, [[spoiler: healing Nicholas (tortured for betrayed Amin), freeing him, and secretly sending him on a plane out of Uganda]] knowing the consequences and simply saying "I don't know" when asked why he did it. And one of Amin's men promptly shoots him in the head.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Nicholas Garrigan is based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Astles Bob Astles]], whose role in the events of Idi Amin's reign is controversial, to say the least.
* {{Hypocrite}}: When Nicholas tries to convince Amin not to exile the Indians, Amin ridicules him for begging for his "fucking Asian tailors" also says that he's a nobody. When the media has a field day with this fact, Amin says that he should have never done that and asks Nicholas why he didn't convince him not to, saying that he's his "personal advisor".
* [[InSeriesNickname In Film Nickname]]: Stone informs Nicholas that the public refers to him as "Amin's white monkey".
* IAmAHumanitarian: Jokingly [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by Amin himself during the first formal dinner scene. Also, rumours about Amin's cannibalism are given a nod.
* IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles: They are [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen described]] as raiding Entebbe before the credits roll.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Stone, the SmugSnake British Foreign Office representative that Garrigan hates, eventually turns out to be right about Amin's brutality. In no way is he nice about making his point to Nicholas when the doctor comes for his help after [[spoiler: Amin replaces Nicholas' British passport with a Ugandan one to prevent him from escaping.]] and tells him that the only way he'll help is if Nicholas does his bidding.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The only major characters left alive at the end of the film are Amin and Garrigan.]]
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler: Dr. Junju, for helping Nicholas out of Uganda.]] One of Amin's men shoots him in the head, just as he mentions his wife.
* LargeHam: Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin. His effort in portraying the dictator didn't go unnoticed, as [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome he won 23 awards]] for his role.
* MightyWhitey: Subverted and/or deconstructed. Nicholas believes, at first, that he can solve Uganda's problems (well, at least some of them), but fails miserably. {{Lampshaded}} towards the end, when Amin admonishes Nicholas for trying to "play the "white man and the natives" game".
** In Nicholas' partial defense, he only went to Uganda because he randomly pointed to a spinning globe. However, Uganda was his second spin; Canada was his first spin. Should have gone with the safe option.
** Played straight in the end, when [[spoiler: Dr. Junju says his reason for helping Nicholas to escape is so that Nicholas can tell the world of Amin's atrocities, saying that they will believe him because he is a white man.]]
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: Nicholas receives an order from Amin's soldiers that he is very sick and when he visits him, Amin himself believes that he was poisoned by Obote's men. Turns out [[CrowningMomentOfFunny the problem was just built up gas due to Amin mixing beer with aspirin]].
** FridgeBrilliance: It's possible Amin never really believed it was anything serious, and just acted like that to [[ManipulativeBastard bring Nicholas closer to his circle.]]
** Also how the two of them meet: Nick and Sara get pulled over by soldiers looking for a doctor after Amin is injured in a car accident with a cow. Turns out Amin only sprained his hand, but the way he and his guards act, you's think he had been severely injured--he even later introduces Nicholas as "the man who saved my life".
* MoodSwinger: Amin can go from affable to bloodthirsty to paranoid and to depressed. As he is shown to be TheCaligula it is just a matter of time.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The guy Nicholas reports and accidentally gets murdered was actually just trying to bring more medicine to uganda.
* OhCrap: Nicholas has several of these; First when he discovers that [[spoiler: Amin replaced his British passport with a Ugandan one]], then when Stone shows him all the atrocities that's happening in the countryside and what Amin did to eliminate his opposition, then [[spoiler: when he [[CruelAndUnusualDeath finds]] [[{{Squick}} Kay's body]]]] and finally, there's when his BatmanGambit to kill Amin fails and when Amin tells him that he knows about his affair with Kay.
* ProperlyParanoid: Definitely averted by Amin, but played straight with Nicholas, who tries to find a way to get out of Uganda without being seen by Amin's men, who were ordered by Amin himself to prevent this.
* PsychopathicManchild: Idi Amin.
-->'''Nicholas Garrigan:''' You're a child. That's what makes you so fucking scary.
* ScaryBlackMan: Amin, of course.
* ShoutOut: To Theatre/KingLear - 'nothing comes from nothing'
* SidelongGlanceBiopic
* ShutUpHannibal: Continuing on from the "Hannibal Lecture" cited above, after Amin's men have pummeled Garrigan and are about to severely torture him, Amin (with arguable degrees of accuracy) accuses him of being a white man who came to Africa as if it were all a game, to screw the local women and act like it was a giant vacation. Whatever Garrigan's personal faults might be, his retort to this is to finally state to Amin's face what none of his inner circle ever had the courage to point out, no matter how ridiculously obvious it increasingly became: "You are a child".
* StarcrossedLovers: Kay and Garrigan.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: Amin's wife Kay,]] whose body is found inside a hospital... with some body parts [[{{Squick}} rearranged.]]
* TestedOnHumans: Amin's bodyguard forces a ChildSoldier to swallow one of the poisoned headache pills Garrigan had prepared for Amin, causing Garrigan to give himself away.
* TitleDrop: Amin, who has an affinity for Scottish culture, refers to himself as "The Last King of Scotland" in one of his speeches.
* TooDumbToLive: Sleeping with Amin's wife, after you've seen what he's capable of? Not making every effort to conceal your affair? Not using protection, leading to her pregnancy and subsequently [[spoiler: her death?]] Sorry, Nicholas, you brought what follows on yourself.
** Admittedly the only sex we see came right after one hell of a drinking montage, so at the time he was probably drunk out of his mind.
** He continued to see her even before he found out she was pregnant.
** Not to mention completely ignoring that Amin was committing bald-faced atrocities on his own people, in lieu of accepting Amin's explanation that cracking down on Obote's remaining supporters will bring a lasting peace to the country and that the guy was utterly insane (Though to be fair, Amin's AffablyEvil nature did a good job masking his insanity up until the middle of the movie).
* UglyGuyHotWife: Amin (if not so much in looks, ''definitely'' in personality) and Kay (presumably the other of his wives as well)
* TheUnfavorite: Kay, the youngest of Amin's three wives. She was exiled by Amin because she gave birth to an epileptic son.
--->'''Kay:''' He visits the children. Not me. He thinks that I am a bad omen.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Nicholas initially thinks that Amin, while harsh at times, is necessary in order to make Uganda a great country.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: While Idi Amin did exist and was a horrible dictator Garrigan is a fictional character that incorporates some of Bob Astles' experiences.
* VillainousBreakdown: Well, to say VillainousBreakdown would imply that he was stable at one point, but Amin still counts.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Amin again.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Nicholas, [[spoiler: when he finds Kay's body.]]
* WallBangHer: Nicholas. [[TooDumbToLive With Amin's wife, of all people.]]
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: Nicholas' has a T-shirt with the Scottish flag. Amin swaps his military shirt for it.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Sara and the mission are totally abandoned when Nick becomes Amin's physician.
** They are seen again towards the end, being evacuated as the situation worsens. Yet another "safer option" he should have stuck with, rather than letting himself be drawn into Amin's circle.
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