THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Director Kevin MacDonald, in his directorial debut, has created in "The Last King of Scotland," a film that both mesmerizes and repulses. The powerful actor, Forest Whitaker, plays Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, in the 1970s before and during the time Amin's murderous reign had reached its most brutal heights.

The film is an adaptation of Giles Foley's 1998 novel. Foley also wrote the screenplay, with Jeremy Brock. It follows a naive young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Gerrigan, played by James McAvoy (the fawn in "Chronicles of Narnia"), who, rather than tread in his father's footsteps as a local country doctor, wants to travel and set up his practice in a foreign land. He spins a globe, shuts his eyes and points. His finger lands on Canada. He spins again. Uganda. His fate is sealed.

The feel of Africa is captured by Anthony Dod Mantle's rich photography and Alex Heffes' original music interspersed with that of native groups. The film basically begins and ends with Gerrigan, making it more his story rather than Amin's. Still, you come away not only with the image of Whitaker's huge face filling the wide screen, but of the caprices of Amin's character.

Gerrigan, after an arduous, but eventful, bus ride on which he appears open to every experience, especially the flirtations of a young black woman, ends up in a poor village's understaffed, rundown clinic. Gillian Anderson, her "X Files" days thankfully long past, plays the harried, overworked wife, Sally, of a husband-wife medical team. Gerrigan''s presence is welcomed, especially when the husband has to leave for a couple of days on an emergency call. The sexual tension between Sally and Nicolas is obvious, but doesn't get in the way of their work. Gerrigan seems to accept the dire medical situation - - short of everything from beds to aspirin - - and plays soccer with the kids. One day the village erupts with festivities as it awaits a visit from their new leader, Idi Amin. And when he arrives, villagers shout and cheer at his message of "better schools, hospitals, electricity and water for all, roads" etc. (The former dictator, Obote, installed by the British, had been overthrown by Major General Amin's coup - - allegedly backed by Britain and Israel, and was in prison.)

Nicholas gets involved with Amin when the doctor is summoned to treat Amin's hand, injured in an automobile accident with a long-horned cow. Nicholas, after bandaging the dictator's hand, pulls off an act that elicits first Amin's anger, then admiration. Soon, Gerrigan becomes not only Amin's doctor, but his "personal advisor". It didn't hurt that Amin was fascinated by all things Scottish, even naming his youngest sons Campbell and MacKenzie. There are scenes with Amin in kilts and his army marching in kilts and playing Scottish marching tunes. Nicolas quits the village and moves to Kampala, the capital, into Amin's compound. His position causes those close to Amin to resent him. Before long, Gerrigan witnesses Amin's brutality. But his revulsion is compromised by Amin as friend, jokester, and clown. A tribute to Forest Whitaker's acting is that his face can go from dark murderous rage to light playfulness in a nano-second.

After a while, as Nicholas becomes more aware of Amin's ruthlessness, you want to shout , "Nicholas! Run!" But he can't. Instead of feeling betrayed when Gerrigan tells him he wants to go home, Amin says he needs to have fun, so throws him an elaborate party, with hookers, tiki lamps, endless booze and wild music. Still, Nicholas's feeling that his life is in danger intensifys. Yet he commits a totally irresponsible act with Amin's youngest wife, Kay (Kerry Washington), forcing Amin's hand.

In that Giles Foley's novel was written from Gerrigan's perspective, you know that he survives, but barely. James McAvoy plays Gerrigan believably. The actor displays the wide-eyed wonder and awe of the young advernturer he is in the early part of the film, then smug top-of-the-world satisfaction. As the film progresses, he registers disbelief, then finally, abject terror. Whitaker is masterful as Amin. Every scene he's in is electrifying. I predict an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Idi Amin's reign lasted until 1979, when he was deposed and Obote returned. Amin was exiled to Saudi Arabia where he died ignominiously, in August 2003.

The film is now playing in several theatres throughout the Bay Area and elsewhere. Check local listings.