Commentary on The Last King Of Scotland Essay

The Last King of Scotland opens with Nicholas Garrigan describing how he happened to become the personal physician to Idi Amin, president of Uganda in the 1970s. While Garrigan is serving as a physician at a bush surgery in the western Ugandan provinces, he is called to the scene of an automobile accident. Lying on the ground next to his wrecked Maserati is President Amin, who needs his wrist bandaged. A few months later, Garrigan is asked to come to the capital as Amins personal physician. He complies because you couldnt say no to Amin.

Garrigan writes this account of his experiences, he says, to provide a genuine eyewitness account of the strange things that happened to him and to others during Amins rule in Uganda. He explains how he decided to go to medical school and how his childhood love for adventure and interest in foreign lands put him on the road to practicing medicine in Africa. He is writing this story from his cottage in Scotland long after the events in Uganda have taken place.

Garrigan arrives in Kampala, Uganda, on January 24, 1971, to begin his job as a doctor with the Ugandan Ministry of Health. During his first night in Kampala, he hears shouting and tanks moving on the streets under his hotel window. The next morning, he hears a radio broadcast stating that, our fellow soldier Major-General Idi Amin Dada has taken power from President Apollo Obote. Frightened, Garrigan searches the town for some guidance on how to get to Mbarara, where he is due the next day. At the British Embassy, Nigel Stone suggests that he Even though Garrigan is now Amins personal physician, he rarely gets to see his patient. He spends most of his time working at the Mulago Hospital and getting to know Kampala. Garrigan explains part of Amins history; including how Amins past military training with the Scots explains his obsessive interest in the nation. One afternoon while Garrigan is relaxing by a pool, Amin appears suddenly, rising up through the pool on a mechanized fountain of water. Later, Amin calls Garrigan to his house to treat his son who, as it ends up, simply has a small toy lodged in his nose.