Movie Mondays!

The acting and cinematography are good but the major flaw of TLKoS is its story. Forest Whitaker does a good turn as Amin but, the story is fictional. As the short disclaimer at the head of the film states, it’s inspired by real life events. That the producers chose Kevin McDonald to direct, a man who had previously only made documentaries, further masks the film is a work of fiction. Some people will be under the mistaken impression there really was a Scottish doctor and these events actually took place but, as observed in the bonus materials by a man who actually was present during one of the film’s penultimate moments, these are exaggerations. Amin certainly was a scary man, a dictator who headed a bloody and brutal regime but there is no need to take such artistic license with his story, in doing so the filmmakers do a disservice to the Ugandans who were victims of the man. I cite the following from the Wikipedia entry on the book the film is based on: “Published by Faber and Faber in 1998 to critical acclaim, the novel interweaves both historical fact and fiction. Its protagonist is a fictional character named Nicholas Garrigan” and “The author evokes the form of a memoir by inserting fictional newspaper articles, journal entries, and authentic events.” I don’t think the filmmakers have drawn a clear enough line between fact and fiction in this film and because they have left it so muddled, they lessen the dramatic impact of the film overall.

I’m repurposing content by taking my NetFlix reviews and posting them here on the blog. If I could figure out a way to do it, I’d post some kind of link for people to connect and make me their friend on the service. Unfortunately, it isn’t altogether clear how one would do that - so if you know a way, pass it along. In the meantime, I’ve got steady content for at least a year.