Forest Whitaker's take on Ugandan tyrant Idi Amin makes this unmissable viewing. Click for our verdict, the trailer and an interview with director Kevin MacDonald.
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Just got back from seeing it, and it's not 'rivetingly enjoyable' as the Guardian's quoted as saying on the poster. I'm not sure how you could find the tale of a nutter murdering thousands of his countrymen enjoyable.
Having said that, it's worth going to see. Whitaker and McAvoy nail their roles as Amin and the Scottish doctor that gets caught up in his regime. The crunch point as McAvoy realises what's going on is particularly well done. It doesn't stop him playing away though.
My only concern is there's a lot of "white man going to Africa" movies at the moment and McAvoy's viewpoint doesn't really show the devastation that Amin brought on the country. You see a lot of his smiley side and he only really turns nasty at the end. There's a lot more to this story than that.
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It turns out that had it not been for casting director Jina Jay, Forest Whitaker may never have got the part of Idi Amin as Macdonald initially felt he was too gentle for the role.
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