Bullied by his biological father, young Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) decides to go to Africa on a petulant - spin a globe and go where it lands - whim to do good and infuriate his parents. Nicholas arrives in Fate's choice, Uganda, and he gets to see the immediate jubilation over General Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker) coup.

Amin is hugely popular since he promises schools, roads and food. He tells crowds he only eats after all his soldiers have eaten. The poor love him. He is one of them. When was the last time a U.S. president, or any world leader for that matter, pumped his own gas?

Nicholas gets a job working alongside a saint of a doctor in a remote village clinic. He is needed there. The doctor has a harried, un-appreciated wife, Sara Zach (Gillian Anderson). Nicholas has a young man's sexual curiosity that is quickly indicated. He has sex with a woman he meets on his way to the clinic and then tries to seduce Sara.

How does Nicholas meet Amin and become the president's closest friend, confidante, chief advisor, and confessor? They meet "cute." He wraps Amin's hand up when it is injured on an official state visit to the village. Visiting the capital city of Kampala, he dazzles Amin with his medical skills by relieving him of gas.

Amin is desperate for companionship. Even though he has several wives, he is lonely. He is terrified that rivals want him dead. He knows Nicholas has no political agenda and decides to reward Nicholas with appointing him his personal physician. He puts the kid in charge of Uganda's Department of Health!

But Nicholas has gone native. The music, the food, the African vibe, and the extravagant gifts bestowed on him by Amin clouds his Scottish sensibilities. He is warned by British agents about Amin but he ignores them.

(True, Amin is credited with killing 300,000 Ugandans, but he is nowhere near the top ten of murderous dictators. There's Mao Ze Dong (49 million), Josef Stalin (13 million), Adolf Hitler (12 million) and Pol Pot (1.7 million). Idi Amin is number 18!)

Amin tells Nicholas he is president because the British put him there. Soon Amin starts enjoying his absolute power and starts sending out death squads to quell his - perhaps not irrational - paranoia. Those British agents do seem sneaky. When Nicholas finds out that his replacement and an off-handed remark to Amin about an advisor has led to their "disappearances," what does he do? He promptly starts an affair with Amin's neglected wife Kay (Kerry Washington). Nicholas seems to attract sexually starved wives.

Amin is bound to find out as Nicholas' relationship with Kay as it escalates towards disaster. Will he get out of Uganda before Amin finds him?

Forest Whitaker takes the role and boldly fires up Amin's formidable charisma. He sweats, he eats, he royally indulges himself and all his favorites. His eyes bulge. Yes, he is a bloodthirsty dictator, but it is Nicholas who becomes spineless and reckless, and thereby loses our sympathy. He never bothers to do anything good with his undeserved power. You come away from "Last King" thinking there were more guilty parties than just Amin.

"The Last King of Scotland's" director, Kevin Macdonald, made the impressive semi-documentary "Touching the Void." (I agree with the condemnation of the climbing community. The other guy should not have cut the rope.) "Last King" was filmed in Uganda and Macdonald does capture the chaos and political climate of the country. He uses Whitaker sparingly but it is a commanding, powerful performance deserving of an Academy Award. Unfortunately, it will be a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

(We at zboneman.com are excited to welcome the prolific and multi-talented writer Victoria Alexander to our staff. Critic for http://www.filmsinreview.com/ and pundit and humorist responsible for the candid and fearlessly funny "The Devil's Hammer," her column appears every Monday on http://fromthebalcony.com. Start off your week with a good hard laugh. It's a thrill to have her on board. Victoria Alexander answers every email and can be contacted directly at masauu@aol.com.)