The Last King of Scotland.

Michael Joshua Rowin opens Reverse Shot's round on The Last King of Scotland at indieWIRE: "What starts out as an awkward, wide-eyed bildungsroman and travelogue transforms (through more untamed verve than directorial precision) into a frantic, disorienting tragedy about the seduction of power, one that would make proud this film's not-so-unlikely pair of guardian angels, Joseph Conrad and Oliver Stone." Neither Keith Uhlich nor Nicolas Rapold agree.

Manohla Dargis in the New York Times: "Furiously paced, with excellent performances by Forest Whitaker as Amin and James McAvoy as the foolish Scotsman who becomes the leader's personal physician, the film has texture, if not depth and enough intelligence to almost persuade you that it actually has something of note to say."

More from Ella Taylor in the Voice and other alt-weeklies across the country, from Stephanie Zacharek in Salon, Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times and David Denby in the New Yorker.

Earlier: David D'Arcy from Toronto.

Update, 9/28: Dana Stevens considers two films written by Peter Morgan, The Last King of Scotland and The Queen, in light of each other: "He's interested in the way tradition and sycophancy shield the powerful from criticism, and how reality eventually finds its way through that shield. Both movies remind us of the simple but easily obscured truth that politics, in the end, always comes down to people: not just 'the people' but real, living individuals, with their appetites, histories, fears and desires."

Posted by dwhudson at September 27, 2006 8:35 AM