False Advertising

29th March 2007

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By: D. Yobachi Boswell

Last month Forest Whitaker became the second black man, after Denzel, to win the Oscar for best leading actor. He won for the role of Idi Amin in the movie The Last King of Scotland; a bio-pic about the ruthless Uganda leader that plunged his country into chaos in the 1970s, eeeerr – wait a minute.

Actually no, that’s not what this movie was. Though advertised as such a bio pic in its national commercials, always showing Amin in almost, if not every single clip; it turned out to be something much different.

I left the film a week and a half ago thinking, Why didn’t anyone tell me this film was all about a white boy? Yeah that’s right.

I got duped. They pulled an Amistad on a brotha.

The movie should have been called, My Summer in Africa: Getting Black Poo-tang in Uganda. The whole movie was from the perspective of some foreign white Scotsman; like I give a damn about this character. As far as I could tell this movie was about him getting black booty in Africa. Thanks for the soft porn too. – that’s not exactly what I go to the movies for. I could have stayed home and had gotten hardcore porn, full throttle for free; if I were so inclined to that sort of “entertainment”.

I don’t know how Forest Whitaker won the Oscar for this role; he was barely in the movie. I mean, he was very convincing as Idi Amin when he actually was on screen, but Amin’s character was secondary to this white dude. They didn’t show Amin coming into power, they didn’t show anything about how he developed into what he became; they didn’t really delve into the man at all.

The movie wasn’t about Idi Amin or Uganda, they were just back drops to the white dude’s story about how he got ass amongst the jungle monkeys. I mean, they looked into the Scotsman’s inner struggle but not Amin’s. This is just like the 1997 film Amistad starring Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins and Matthew McConaughey; where it was all about the great white hope lawyers fighting their contemporaries out of the goodness of their hearts to free the slaves, with little focus on the slave’s plight and struggle.

Uggghhh!

Why can’t white people ever make a movie regarding black struggle where it isn’t about how the “good white folk” swooped in and saved the day for the Negroes, or about what white people went through. I’m not going to see another Africa or slave movie unless it’s directed by Spike Lee or Robert Townsend.

A Cautionary Tale

Critics of my critique would point out that the movie was based on the novel of the same name by Giles Foden; taken from the Scotsman’s story of his time as Amin’s physician and advisor. Granted, I did not know this before seeing the film; yet this aluminates an important point. As the old Public Enemy song goes, it shows that “You Can’t Trust It”. As in, don’t trust advertisers even in what they say their movie is about; especially when it is white persons controlling the story of black people.

I know, I should have known this already, especially after Amistad; but I was lulled to sleep by Hotel Rwanda being so good and pretty well focused. But now my senses are re-heightened and I shall not be hoodwinked again.

I know this is late in coming as this movie is fading out of theatres, but no one warned me, so I wanted to at least warn you. Don’t buy the DVD when it comes out. If you really feel like you just have to see it, at least rent it first before you make the mistake of seeing this Scottish story of an African ass-getting adventure.

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1 On March 29th, 2007, Shayla J. said:

LOL @ My Summer in Africa: Getting Black Poo-tang in Uganda

I have not seen the movie but in my opinion they are behind on awarding blacks for certain films. Denzel was good in Training Day but he was also good in Malcolm X, Philadelphia, and Devil In A Blue Dress.

Forrest Whitaker has been making movies and has been on various sitcoms for years… I liked The Crying Game. And Halle gets the Oscar for having sex with Billy Bob Thorton? Something is not right…

2 On March 30th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

Their more into giving life time achievement awards than rewarding people properly at
the right times.

I don’t care about the Oscars though, just wanted to aluminate the fact that Whitaker’s character
wasn’t even the main character in this film, nor the focal point.

3 On April 1st, 2007, Stacie M said:

I have not seen the film; however, I was confused by the title. I initially thought the film focused on Amin; thus, could
figure out why the title was “The Last King of Scotland”. Nonetheless, thanks for the heads up. lol! I also didn’t know there was a book that this film was based on. So, that explains a lot. I really like Whitaker as an actor though. I’m glad he won the oscar.

4 On April 1st, 2007, Stacie M said:

meant to say “thus, could *not* figure out why the title was “The Last King of Scotland”.

5 On April 1st, 2007, Stacie M said:

And to speak to your major point about movies about black struggle that are made by whites, I think largely it’s about
appealing to certain audiences. This means often that the content is watered down and doesn’t condemn, because to look at the
roots of black struggle in Africa and elsewhere, whites would have to acknowledge their participation in and responsibility
for much of it and they ain’t gonna do that much less go see it on the big screen. It’s a shame, but it’s up to us to tell our
stories because they’re always going to water it down, oversentimentalize it and in general distort.

6 On April 1st, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

You’re right Stacie; I’m sure that’s there purpose. It’s all the more reason for us to avoid
there bullshit movies. They’re not for us, and they’re not about the truth or the black experience.

7 On April 1st, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

To you’re other thing about the title of the movie, there is some attempt of the explination
outside of the main character being from Scotland:

Amin ties it in to him running the British out of Uganda, and the Scotish wanting him to help
them do the same. But then the movie makes this whole thing about Amin being in love with the
Scotish because he fought beside them when he was in the British army, and they make the
movie all about this white dude from Scotland.

8 On April 12th, 2007, Lavonda said:

Thanks for the heads up about the movie. You know, it’s a shame that they can not make a good quality film telling our tale without “watering” it down by introducing “the man” to “save the day”. It is up to our generation and future generations to tell our tale.

Maybe, you can answer this question for me: Why hasn’t Disney come forward with an African princess?? They have a princess representing every race/color except Africa or African Americans. And Lion King does not count because there were no people in that story.

9 On April 12th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

Hey Lavonda,

To the first point, we just need to tell our own story and stop leaving it to others to do it for us.

To your second issue, it’s in the works: www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/15/disney.newprincess.ap/index.html
There’s debate among black people on message boards I frequend about the shape and tone and representation of it.

Here’s an article by someone I kinda know on the racial problems of the film: www.bet.com/JenniferDanielsBlogFroggiesVoodoo.htm