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The Last King of Scotland (film)

2006 film by Kevin Macdonald

The Last King of Scotland is a 2006 film about the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.

Directed by Kevin Macdonald. Written by Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan, based on the 1988 novel by Giles Foden.
Charming. Magnetic. Murderous.

Idi Amin

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  • [about Nicholas] You see, Jonah? This is the sort of man a president needs around him. Someone who is not afraid to speak his mind.
  • They take you to a tree and hang you by your skin. Each time you scream the evil comes out of you. Sometimes, it can take three days for your evil to be spent. Pull him up.
  • You see. You are a doctor and a philosopher. Yes, I do have a good life now. Please, please. Sit here. I come from a very poor family, I think you should know this. My father left me when I was a child. The British Army; became my home. They took me as a cleaner, in the kitchens, cleaning pots. They used to beat me. [imitating British] "Beat this wall, Amin." "Dig the latreen, Amin." And now, here I am. The President of Uganda. And who put me here, huh? It was the British.
  • I am the father of this nation, Nicholas. And you have most... grossly... offended your father.
  • Look at you. Is there one thing you have done that is good? Did you think this was all a game? 'I will go to Africa and I will play the white man with the natives.' Is that what you thought? We are not a game, Nicholas. We are real. This room here, it is real. I think your death will be the first real thing that has happened to you.

Nicholas Garrigan

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  • This is Africa. You meet violence with violence. Anything else, and you're dead.
  • Almost all aberrations of nature are possible.

Other

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  • Dr. Merrit: [to Nicholas] You know, the interesting thing is, 80% of the locals prefer the witch doctor to us. Sometimes I just think we're just skimming the surface of an ocean.

Dialogue

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Idi Amin: You are British?
Nicholas Garrigan: Scottish. I am Scottish.
Idi Amin: Scottish? Ha! Ha! Why didn't you say so?... Great soldiers. Very brave. And good people. Completely. Let me tell you, if I could be anything instead of a Ugandan, I would be a Scot.
Nicholas Garrigan: Right... Really?
Idi Amin: He. Except for the red hair, which I'm sure is attractive to your women, but which we Africans, we find is quite disgusting.
Idi Amin: I am ashamed that you saw me like that. I was frightened.
Nicholas Garrigan: I'm a doctor. Everything that passes between us is confidential. Ok? I've taken an oath.
Idi Amin: But a man that shows fear... he is weak, and he is a slave.
Nicholas Garrigan: Well... if you're afraid of dying, shows you have a life worth keeping.
Idi Amin: I want you to tell me what to do.
Nicholas Garrigan: You want ME to tell YOU what to do?
Idi Amin: Yes, you are my advisor. You are the only one I can trust in here. You should have told me not to throw the Asians out, in the first place.
Nicholas Garrigan: I DID!
Idi Amin: But you did not persuade me, Nicholas. You did not persuade me!
Idi Amin: You dare try to poison me? After everything I gave you? I am Idi Amin! President-for-life and ruler of Uganda. I am the father of Africa.
Nicholas Garrigan: You're a child. You have the mind and ego of an angry, spoiled, uneducated child. And that's what makes you so fucking scary.
Nigel Stone: This man is trying to help his country. Idi always seems to get it wrong, doesn't he?
Nicholas Garrigan: Jesus fuckin' Christ! Get me out of here!
Nigel Stone: You earn your passage, friend.
Nicholas Garrigan: Wh-what?
Nigel Stone: You know what they're calling you? His white monkey.
Nigel Stone: I'm his doctor. It's not my job to judge the man.
Nicholas Garrigan: [Mimicking him] "I'm his doctor?" Is that your defense? Fuck off, Garrigan! We don't just hand out passports to chimps like you! Particularly not chimps with blood on their hands!
Nicholas Garrigan: I didn't want him to die though.
Idi Amin: But you did it. Why? You want to know why?
Nicholas Garrigan: Yes.
Idi Amin: You did it because you love me.
Nicholas Garrigan: I can't. It fucking stinks. I can't help coming back to that moment when I asked you to talk to him. This isn't me. I have to go home now.
Idi Amin: You cannot.
Nicholas Garrigan: What?
Idi Amin: Your work is not finished here yet.
Idi Amin: You promised to me you would help me build a new Uganda. You swore an oath.
Nicholas Garrigan: The oath is... erm... it's, it's a doctor's oath of confidentiality; we all take it. It's got nothing to do with Uganda.
Idi Amin: Huh? Nothing? Nothing comes from nothing. You have a conscience, I know you do. That is why you came here in the first place. Or are you like all the other British? Just here to fuck and to take away? No? Why else would I trust you with my family? You are like my own son.
Nicholas Garrigan: My name is Nicholas Garrigan, and I'm from Scotland. I need to go home now.
Idi Amin: Your home... is here.
Nicholas Garrigan: Why are you doing this?
Dr. Junju: Frankly, I don't know. You deserve to die. But dead, you can do nothing. Alive, you might just be able to redeem yourself.
Nicholas Garrigan: I don't understand.
Dr. Junju: I am tired of hatred, Doctor Garrigan. This country is drowning in it. We deserve better... Go home. Tell the world the truth about Amin. They will believe you; you are a white man.

Cast

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