With the release of Blood Diamond, The Painted Veil, and now, The Last King of Scotland, the colonial movie, that much-maligned form, appears to be staging something of a comeback. Instead of the usual story of outnumbered imperial soldiers fighting thousands of tribesmen, or well bred Brits going drunkenly to seed in the jungle while listening to those relentless drums, however, The Last King of Scotland, like Blood Diamond, confronts some of the troubled history of contemporary Africa. The movie provides an example of some of the more unpleasant truths of the postcolonial era --- a heritage of insurrection, bloody coups, civil war, and tyrannical oppression.

Although the opening credits announce that actual events "inspired" the story, the final ones mention a novel that shared the inspiration, suggesting a certain ambiguity about the film's alleged historical accuracy. Told from the point of view of a young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), the movie deals with a few years in the rule of Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), who took control of Uganda in a coup in the 1970s and governed the country in the usual manner of Third World dictators. Garrigan, who initially journeyed to Uganda to escape his suffocating parents, works in a remote clinic until chance events bring him in contact with the charismatic general, who becomes his patron, his mentor, and for a while at least, his friend.

Dazzled by the force of Amin's personality and the man's grand rhetoric about rebuilding his country, Garrigan agrees to leave the clinic and come to the capital to serve as the president's personal physician and, later, his minister of health. His official position and his successful treatment of some of Amin's injuries and ailments --- notably curing his patient of what he comically believed was poisoning --- ultimately convince the president to make the doctor his personal advisor, and to regard him as his closest friend. From that privileged situation he observes the behavior of an increasingly capricious and erratic personality who begins the familiar process of killing and torturing his enemies, both real and imagined.

Despite the insider's point of view, the picture adds little to the history of Idi Amin's time in power. Since the president was a world-class publicity hound given to outrageous statements and actions, the press covered him thoroughly and the public knew a great deal about his personal and public style. He hobnobbed with fellow tyrants, delivered speeches praising Hitler, offered aid to Scotland in throwing off the English yoke, forced British businessmen to carry him about in a sedan chair, and periodically assassinated political rivals.

The odd relationship between the physician and the president provides the real substance of the movie. Forest Whitaker's performance, which has already won considerable recognition in the form of the usual prizes, dominates the picture, displaying enormous power together with a concomitant charm, which quite overwhelms the naive and occasionally obtuse Garrigan. By turns cruel, funny, generous, impulsive, obdurate, the actor displays in full the brilliantly mercurial personality of the original, who apparently possessed those qualities in abundance, which no doubt assisted his rise to power.

Aside from showcasing Whitaker's talents, the movie also suggests the culpability of the British in assisting Amin's original coup and maintaining him in power. When the political situation grows perilous and Garrigan, whose foolishness extends to conducting an affair with Amin's third wife, needs to flee the country, the Embassy refuses to help him. A noble Ugandan doctor assists his escape, and in a nod to tradition, sacrifices himself in a gesture that repeats the action of scores of colonial movies.

Although The Last King of Scotland demonstrates some of the new possibilities in colonial film, it also hints at some of the reasons for the chaos of much of contemporary Africa. The present situation in so many African countries, and the unimaginable suffering of so many innocent people, now provides a new subject for filmmakers, an exploration of the full meaning of the grand imperial adventure, a thoughtful examination of the making of a tyrant, which now seems a sadly inevitable result of centuries of exploitation.

The Last King of Scotland (R), directed by Kevin Macdonald, is now playing at Henrietta 18.