Global Citizenship 讀書會
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The Last King of Scotland (movie 2006)
2010 Oct 17th
1. Author
Giles Foden was born in Warwickshire in 1967. His family moved to Malawi in 1971 where he was raised. He was educated at Cambridge, where he read English. He worked as a journalist for Media Week magazine, then became an assistant editor on the Times Literary Supplement. He was deputy literary editor of The Guardian between 1995 and 2006 and is currently Fellow in Creative and Performing Arts at University of London. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
His first novel The Last King of Scotland (1998), won the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. The 2006 feature film, The Last King of Scotland, starring Forest Whitaker, is based on Foden's novel with considerable differences.
2. Movie Background
Nicholas Garrigan is a young Scotsman just graduated from medical school. Unsatisfied with the immediate prospect of starting a peaceful practice within his town the same way his father does, he decides to go on an adventure and volunteers to work with a small missionary clinic in Uganda, which consists of one other doctor, Dr. David Meritt. Garrigan is attracted to Dr. Meritt’s wife but she refuses to conduct an extramarital affair with him.
During his work there he goes to a rally for General Idi Amin, a man who has recently been successful in a coup. Stirred by the promising words and charisma of the General, when Nicholas Garrigan is offered a position as the President’s physician he accepts. Close to Amin, Nicholas is privy to his personal life and the privileges that comes along with being a close advisor to the president. He is also disturbed by the reports of Amin’s brutal actions towards suspected opposition, but he brushes these aside … until one day his unwitting confidence results in the disappearance and suspected death of one of his colleagues. At this point, Garrigan loses his optimism about the administration and wishes to leave Uganda, but has his passport stolen from him and replaced with an Ugandan passport by men of the forceful Amin.
Garrigan is trapped in Uganda and witnesses more and more brutal and irrational edicts that Amin issues, that draws both international outrage and drives Uganda’s economy to it’s knees. During this time, Garrigan conducts a covert affair with one of Amin’s wives, and when her body is brutally mutilated because her illicit pregnancy was discovered Garrigan finally feels the full extent of Amin’s brutality and wishes to kill him. His ‘headache pills’ however are discovered to be poison and he is confronted by Amin, who orders him hung by the skin of his chest until he dies. His colleague at the hospital, Dr. Jungju, saves him and helps him escape.
3. Quotes
Nicholas Garrigan: Why are you doing this? Djonjo: Frankly, I don't know. You deserve to die. But dead, you can do nothing. Alive, you might just be able to redeem yourself. Nicholas Garrigan: I don't understand. Djonjo: I am tired of hatred, Doctor Garrigan. This country is drowning in it. We deserve better... Go home. Tell the world the truth about Amin. They will believe you; you are a white man. ________________________________________
Nicholas Garrigan: I didn't want him to die though. Idi Amin: But you did it. Why? You want to know why? Nicholas Garrigan: Yes. Idi Amin: You did it because you love me. ________________________________________
Idi Amin: I want you to tell me what to do. Nicholas Garrigan: You want ME to tell YOU what to do? Idi Amin: Yes, you are my advisor. You are the only one I can trust in here. You should have told me not to throw the Asians out, in the first place. Nicholas Garrigan: I DID! Idi Amin: But you did not persuade me, Nicholas. You did not persuade me! ________________________________________
Idi Amin: [to crowd at rally] I know who you are and what you are. I am you! ________________________________________
Idi Amin: You see. You are a doctor and a philosopher. Yes, I do have a good life now. Please, please. Sit here. I come from a very poor family, I think you should know this. My father left me when I was a child. The British Army; became my home. They took me as a cleaner, in the kitchens, cleaning pots. They used to beat me. [imitating British] Idi Amin: "Beat this wall, Amin." "Dig the latreen, Amin." And now, here I am. The President of Uganda. And who put me here, huh? It was the British. ________________________________________
Nicholas Garrigan: I can't. It fucking stinks. I can't help coming back to that moment when I asked you to talk to him. This isn't me. I have to go home now. Idi Amin: You cannot. Nicholas Garrigan: What? Idi Amin: Your work is not finished here yet. ________________________________________
Idi Amin: You promised to me you would help me build a new Uganda. You swore an oath. Nicholas Garrigan: The oath is... erm... it's, it's a doctor's oath of confidentiallity; we all take it. It's got nothing to do with Uganda. Idi Amin: Huh? Nothing? Nothing comes from nothing. You have a conscience, I know you do. That is why you came here in the first place. Or are you like all the other British. Just here to fuck and to take away? No? Why else would I trust you with my family? You are like my own son. Nicholas Garrigan: My name is Nicholas Garrigan, and I'm from Scotland. I need to go home now. Idi Amin: Your home... is here. ________________________________________
Idi Amin: I am the father of this nation, Nicholas. And you have most... grossly... offended your father. ________________________________________
Idi Amin: I am ashamed that you saw me like that. I was frightened. Nicholas Garrigan: I'm a doctor. Everything that passes between us is confidential. Ok? I've taken an oath. Idi Amin: But a man that shows fear... he is weak, and he is a slave. Nicholas Garrigan: Well... if you're afraid of dying, shows you have a life worth keeping. ________________________________________
Kay Amin: [about her husband] He cannot trust anybody anymore. ________________________________________
Sarah Merrit: Do you know the feeling when you're married to a really nice guy? Dr. Garrigan: You feel like a shit. Sarah Merrit: Yeah... ________________________________________
Idi Amin: Look at you. Is there one thing you have done that is good? Did you think this was all a game? 'I will go to Africa and I will play the white man with the natives.' Is that what you thought? We are not a game, Nicholas. We are real. This room here, it is real. I think your death will be the first real thing that has happened to you. ________________________________________
Nigel Stone: You know what they're calling you? Amin's white monkey. ________________________________________
Idi Amin: You are British. Nicholas Garrigan: Scottish. I am Scottish. Idi Amin: Scottish? Ha! Ha! Why didn't you say so?... Great soldiers. Very brave. And good people. Completely. let me tell you, if I could be anything instead of a Ugandan, I would be a Scot. Nicholas Garrigan: Right... Really? Idi Amin: He. Except for the red hair, which I'm sure is attractive to your women, but which we Africans, we find is quite disgusting. ________________________________________
Nigel Stone: You may find... that you need to... clarify... your situation. So please, don't hesitate to ask... if there's anything we can do to help you clarify... Nicholas Garrigan: Is there some special school where you people go to to learn to talk like that? ________________________________________
Nicholas Garrigan: [closes eyes, spins globe] First place you land, first place you land. [stops globe with finger, looks] Nicholas Garrigan: Canada. [pause. Spins globe again]
4. Thoughts and Discussion
While the film is not completely historically accurate (Garrigan’s character is made up), it serves as an interesting look at how power may begin, and be abused. A few of the questions we asked were:
1.What particular traits did Sara observe both in Amin and Garrigan that made her distrust them? How can these traits serve as indicators for future behavior? 2.What sort of environmental influences allowed a personality such as Amin to be able to lead a successful coup, even though his methods were obviously flawed? 3.What drew Garrigan to Amin? 4.Why did Garrigan finally resolve to kill Amin? 5.What was the role of the British in this situation?
