History Film / TheLastKingofScotland

* EvilIsPetty: Amin seems to get a big kick out of humliating

%%* DeadpanSnarker: Both Garrigan and Amin.

%%* EvilIsHammy: Amin.

%%* MaleFrontalNudity: Nicholas, briefly.

%%* ScaryBlackMan: Amin, of course. Some of his men are also this.

%%* SidelongGlanceBiopic

%%* StarcrossedLovers: Kay and Garrigan.

%%* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Amin again.

%%* AmbitionIsEvil: And how.

''The Last King of Scotland'' is a critically acclaimed 2006 FilmOfTheBook which fictionalizes the rise and fall of UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, the infamous dictator from [[UsefulNotes/{{Uganda}} Uganda]].

The movie starts in 1970 with Nicholas Garrigan, a callow Scottish medical graduate. In rebellion against his father, he goes to work as a doctor in Uganda. While working in a missionary hospital and being hot for the married Sarah Meritt, he meets Idi Amin, a charismatic general who is so impressed with him that he appoints him to become his personal physician. The worst that can be said about this coup leader is his increasing paranoia that everyone is out to get him and the bad dreams suggesting when he's going to die. Plus, he farts big just like the rest of us. He's an alright dude.

** On the DVD commentary, director Kevin McDonald notes that the ''main'' thing everyone seemed to remember after test screenings was Kerry Washington's behind.

* {{Filth}}: Amin and his inner circle are seen watching a private showing of ''Deep Throat'' in his palace. He asks Nicholas (a doctor) if it's medically possible for a woman to actually have a clitoris in their throat.

%%* ForeignCorrespondent: Nicholas

-->'''Idi Amin'''

%%* EvilSoundsDeep: Amin.

%%* BigBad: Amin.

* 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.

%%* TheCaligula: Amin, obviously.

%%* CrapsackWorld: Uganda under Amin.
%%* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Sorry, Kay.]].

* FullCircleRevolution: 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. After Amin's fall, Obote came back into power and committed further atrocities.

* FullCircleRevolution: 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.

* {{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".

** 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".

* OhCrap: Nicholas has several of these, increasing in severity. First when he hears that the man he reported has disappeared; it's his first inkling that Amin isn't the good guy he presents himself as (he later finds out the guy WASN'T plotting treason). Then 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.
* TheParanoiac: Amin. He frequently rants that some of his associates (if not all of'em) plots to kill him. Some of the murders he commits are also simply based on his paranoia. In one scene he also says that he's surrounded by traitors.

--> '''Amin''': ...or are you like all the other British? Just here to fuck, and then take away?

* UglyGuyHotWife: Amin (if not so much in looks, ''definitely'' in personality) and Kay (presumably the other of his wives as well)

* ShutUpHannibal: Continuing on from the "Hannibal Lecture" cited above, after Amin's men have pummeled Garrigan and are about to severely torture him, Amin [[JerkassHasAPoint(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. That's what makes you so fucking scary".

* 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. That's what makes you so fucking scary".

* 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.

* OhCrap: Nicholas has several of these, increasing in severity. First when he hears that the man he reported has disappeared; it's his first inkling that Amin isn't the good guy he presents himself as. Then 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.

* 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".

** Remember Idi Amin ''was real''. Living in a developing (or fragile) country ruled by a murderously tyrannical dictator is sadly a reality for many people. One merely needs to look at the accounts of those who lived under the reign of Idi Amin in real life, or an existing country like North Korea.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: While Idi Amin did exist and was a horrible dictator Garrigan is a fictional character that incorporates some of Bob Astles' experiences.

* 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.

* 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.

* ForeignCultureFetish: Amin is fascinated by Scottish culture, going as far as proclaiming himself "the last king of Scotland" (hence the title).

* LargeHam: Creator/ForestWhitaker as Idi Amin. His effort in portraying the dictator didn't go unnoticed, as [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome he won 23 awards]] for his role.

** 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]].