SCOTTISH OBSERVANCE
We now pay over $3 per gallon for gas. Watch The Last King of Scotland and you�ll understand why.
BY DOUG FRENCH

There are lots of reasons to rent The Last King of Scotland. After all, Forest Whitaker took home both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for his role as Ugandan President Idi Amin. As one reviewer wrote, the movie �belongs to Forest Whitaker. He is the key to making this Faustian bargain work. His Amin is vulnerable at times, clowns around with his buddies� But he�s also not above killing those closest to him, especially after his paranoia grows more profound.�

But what virtually no one realizes is that 2006 marked the first time ever that the United States imported more crude oil from Africa than from the Middle East. And, the trend has continued in the first few months of 2007 with three African countries (Nigeria, Angola and Algeria) accounting for 26 percent of crude oil imports, while three Middle Eastern countries (Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait) accounted for just 23 percent. 

Keep this fact in mind as you watch Whitaker portray the deranged dictator slip into increasingly violent paranoia. As David Galland writes for Casey Research: �Of course, as perpetually troubled as the Middle East is, the rest of Africa is no shirker in the constant chaos derby. That it is now a leading source of oil imports to the U.S. has far-ranging implications, above and beyond providing regular content with the theme of mayhem for our nightly entertainment� I mean, news.�

Based on Giles Foden�s novel, The Last King of Scotland tells the story of Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (played by James McAvoy), a young Scottish doctor who travels to Uganda and becomes Amin�s personal physician. Garrigan is a fictional character, but his story is very loosely based on events in the life of English-born Bob Astles. The film mixes fiction with real events in Ugandan history to describe Amin and Uganda under his totalitarian rule. While the basic events of Amin�s life are followed, the film often departs in the details of particular events.

While working in a small hospital in the countryside, Garrigan has a chance meeting with the newly elected Amin, treating him after the Dictator�s jeep hit a cow. While treating Amin, Garrigan is distracted and annoyed by the suffering cow that was also injured in the accident and he boldly grabs Amin�s gun and kills the animal. Although initially irritated by his actions, Amin begins to admire Garrigan�s boldness and he also loves Garrigan�s home country Scotland. Thus, Garrigan becomes Amin�s personal physician and advisor.

Very quickly in the film we find out that the Garrigan is likable, quite the Lothario and very na�ve, and soon he falls into the moral corruption of Amin�s Uganda. At first, the young doctor ignores the crimes Amin is committing, but he is forced to acknowledge their reality when a comment of his leads Amin to kill the health minister. Amin will then not let Garrigan quit and won�t let him out of the country. He and the audience then learn about the real Idi Amin. �The Last King of Scotland,� writes critic John Wirt, "fitting its brutal subject, is not an easy film. Yet in the realm of movies that depict seductive, evil men of power who easily smile even as they kill, it�s a bloodstained achievement.�����

Meanwhile in today�s Africa, Nigeria is in the process of transferring power through a �democratic� election, and the key to reliable oil production in that country now lies in the ability of the newly elected president, Umaru Yar�Adua, to solidify political control despite strong opposition from militant opponents. 

The President-elect is to be sworn-in May 29 along with a slate of new governors, most of them also from the ruling party. But the Associated Press reports that local and international observers said the state polls on April 14 and the national vote on April 21 were not credible.

No doubt, Nigeria�s Adua will be just like Idi Amin or any other African dictator (all duly elected). Nigeria generates tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues each year, yet widespread political corruption has resulted in falling living standards for the general population in the 50 years since oil exploration began.

You may have noticed that you are now paying well over $3 per gallon for gas. Watch The Last King of Scotland and you�ll understand why.