Biopics are Oscar fodder, especially of late, so one wouldn’t be unreasonable to view the attention Forest Whitaker received for his role as General Idi Amin Dada with at least a slight degree of scepticism. That is, of course, until one experiences that performance. I have always respected Whitaker, as much for his strange collection of roles (Bird, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Platoon, and a host of others) as for his unique personality during public appearances. Whitaker’s earnest self-consciousness makes his broad range of performances seem all the more miraculous.
Here, Whitaker disappears into Idi Amin to such a degree as to shame any other time an actor has been described as doing so. Having recently seen Barbet Schroeder’s riveting documentary (which I suspect was the subject of much study by actor and director here), I realized, only after the closing credits, that sometime into Amin’s first speech until the end of the film, I wasn’t aware of a boundary between actor and subject.
Of course, all of the attention paid to Whitaker belies that his role is actually a supporting one, and that the story is actually about, and told through the eyes of, Dr. Nicholas Garrigan. Through an also impressive performance by James McAvoy, we see and believe a story that would otherwise seem absurd: that a young doctor fresh out of medical school, fearing that he will inevitably becomes a stodgy old man like his father, might head to Uganda 
to sow some wild oats and end up way over his head. Although Garrigan begins volunteering at a village hospital staffed by an initially unrecognizable Gillian Anderson, circumstance and the arrogance of youth lead him to become one of Amin’s “closest advisers,” an honor which grows significantly more dubious as Amin’s regime spirals out of control. The Last King of Scotland is a complex and multilayered cautionary tale, and to to credit of its creators, it remains perfectly composed, even when its subjects, and the audience, do not fare so well.
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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