It’s 1970, and in attempt to make something of his life after having just graduated from medical school, Nicholas Garrigan (by closing his eyes and pointing to a spinning globe) chooses to take his services to a missionary deep in the jungles of war savaged Uganda.
Naïve and brimming with optimism, Garrigan departs his homeland of Scotland, bringing his education and civilized ways to an archaic village and quickly makes an impact helping the area children. The resident missionary, Dr. Merrit, explains at Garrigan’s first arrival at the hospital that 80% of the locals still prefer the tribe’s witchdoctor to the practice of 20th century medicine
Through a chance encounter Garrigan tends to the wounds of the newly installed president, the charismatic and seemingly positive General Idi Amin who has just taken power as the result of a coup. Amin is so impressed he takes Garrigan on as his own private physician. A friendship ensues and before long, Garrigan finds himself as the dictator’s most trusted advisor.
Blinded by the wealth and power of being the president’s closest ally, he slowly begins to discover that Amin is heading a violent and bloody regime, of which he has been inadvertently complicit in several heinous acts. Garrigan’s request to return home to Scotland is denied, and he must find a way to escape before becoming one of 300,000 people Amin’s regime slaughtered.
Based on a true story (while the character of Nicholas Garrigan is fictitious the monstrous dictator Idi Amin is unfortunately all too real) you will find yourself deep in the darkest jungles of Africa, both literally and figuratively as you experience firsthand something most people in the civilized world could never begin to fathom.
Rather than cast a well known actor for the role of Garrigan and try to coach a Scottish accent out of him, director Kevin Macdonald cast an actual Scotsman, James McAvoy, who plays the role of the bright-eyed physician perfectly. The incomparable Forest Whitaker (one of my favorite actors) plays the role of the gruesome Amin, a paranoid and delusional miscreant who was responsible for over 300,000 deaths, including his own wife and son (the latter of which he is reported to have cooked and eaten). After viewing real life footage of the dictator you’ll understand how perfect Whitaker is for the role.
– by Matt Christopher
