Last night I watched the 2007 movie “ The Last King of Scotland. “ At the beginning, there was the inevitable “inspired by true events” and what followed was a story that was certainly inspired but not necessarily by true events.
It was about a bloke called Idi Amin who was a brutal and crazy dictator ( true ) who ruled Uganda under a regime of tyranny and oppression ( true ) and ended when an Air France airplane carrying 250 passengers to Paris from Tel Aviv was hijacked by terrorists. The Israeli mission to rescue them, known as Operation Entebbe was also true but beyond that, it was a load of Hollywood stuff and nonsense.
The movie focused on a young Scottish Doctor who worked for Idi Amin, Based on the novel written by Giles Foden, our young Doctor is befriended by Idi Amin and the young medico leaves his work with the people of Uganda and hurries off to live a life of luxury tending to the needs of Amin. Seemingly hoodwinked into ignoring the obvious ( that Idi Amin was a murdering thug ) the Scot starts a passionate affair with one of the dictator’s wives, gets her pregnant and then performs an abortion on her … which leads to Idi being a bit cross. The Doctor is strung up and tortured for his amorous attentions and betrayal of his best friend Idi Amin. But, as luck would have it, this torture happens at the very airport at the very time that the Israeli’s arrive to free the hostages. How lucky is that?
But, on doing some research, I find that there was no Scottish Doctor. Surprise, surprise.
He was an invention of Hollywood to make it more interesting and dramatic.
How many people have watched that movie over the years and genuinely believed that , because it was “ inspired by true events “ they had just seen something more akin to an historical record than a piece of made up nonsense?
It got me to thinking about what is happening around the world these days: is this Batflu simply inspired by true events? There is a flu, but, beyond that, how much is just given the Hollywood treatment and we are just watching a movie?
The recent box office production of the American election: How much of what has happened since November 3rd is inspired by true events and the rest just carefully choreographed by the media to make it more dramatic and shocking and more “ box office smash “ ….
The constant barrage of climate change, global warming , the end of the world is nigh and voice overs from tramatised folk like David Attenborough are just the Scottish Doctor – the figment of someone’s fertile imagination.
I read so often that people are grabbing their popcorn ready to watch the next scene or episode in this never ending saga of misery, fear and lunacy.
At the moment, all we can say is true is that there is a bad flu and that we have got some really brutal and crazy dictators in charge who are enforcing regimes of tyranny and oppression and that there are millions of people being held hostage all round the world.
I have to admit, there has been some rather fine acting and the Best Director and Best Producer awards are up for grabs. Even the screenplay has at times been very good. But I can’t wait for the final scene when someone comes to rescue us.
I am sick and tired of this movie. I want it to end so I can go home.
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