from wikepedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_King_of_Scotland_(film)
Differences between the book and the film
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.- The film is only loosely based on Giles Foden's novel; in fact, director Kevin MacDonald discouraged actor James McAvoy from reading the book because it differed so much from the script.[2]
- Nicholas Garrigan's relationship with Amin is less intimate in the book than it is in the movie. Garrigan is a more passive and an arguably less sympathetic character in the book (also, his father is a domineering Presbyterian minister, and not a doctor as he is in the film).
- In the book, British Intelligence has a hand in appointing Garrigan to the position of Amin's personal physician (this is far less implicit in the movie, in which Garrigan's appointment appears to be entirely due to the whims of Amin).
- The character of Sarah Merrit (played by Gillian Anderson) in the movie is a composite of three different characters from the book (Joyce Merrit, Sara Zach and Marina Perkins). Many supporting characters in the book (e.g. Frederik Swanepoel, William Waziri, Major Weir, and Angol-Steve) are absent entirely in the movie.
- In the movie, Garrigan's colleague at the hospital is the Ugandan Dr. Thomas Djonjo; in the book, he is a fellow Scot, Dr. Colin Paterson.
- In the movie, Garrigan tends to Amin's epileptic son Mackenzie when he is having a seizure. The equivalent scene in the book has Garrigan retrieving a block of lego from the nose of Amin's son Campbell.
- In the movie, Amin's wife Kay has an affair with Garrigan and the resulting pregnancy leads to her capture and death before Garrigan can perform an abortion. In the book, Kay (a far more minor character than in the film) does not have an affair with Garrigan; she falls pregnant by Peter Mbalu-Mukasa (an African doctor who does not even appear in the film) and Garrigan refuses to perform the abortion. Kay and Peter are killed soon after.
- In both the book and the movie, the British diplomat, Stone, asks Garrigan to kill Amin by poisoning him. In the movie, Garrigan attempts to do so and is caught out by Amin; in the book, Garrigan doesn't even attempt to poison Amin (he even admits to Amin that he was asked to do it). Since Garrigan doesn't betray Amin, Amin does not order Garrigan's torture and death as he does in the film (and even considers their friendship intact when the story ends).
- In the book, Garrigan does not escape with the hostages from Entebbe as he does in the movie. He leaves Africa during the aftermath of the Uganda-Tanzania War, and when he returns to Britain, he is distrusted and vilified by the press, which accuses him of being Amin's right-hand man and actively taking part in the dictator's atrocities.
There is also a documentary "Idi Amin in power"
here are some clips from it
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Tns9QKFV8[/youtube]
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