Forest Whitaker may have earned a coveted Oscar award for his role in the movie The Last King of Scotland but he also successfully poked into Uganda’s bleeding wounds of the rotten past which, I would rather we conveniently forgot about. Hollywood’s release: The Last King of Scotland early this year, haas no doubt generated unprecedented excitement around the world. The movie mirrors the monstrous regime and lifestyle of Uganda’s worst dictator Iddi Amin, who ruled or rather misruled Uganda from 1971 until 1979 when Tanzania-backed Ugandan rebel exiles ousted him. While I personally feel the movie is not worth the exhilaration (Rise and Fall of Iddi Amin is better for me), the world doesn’t seem to agree with my perception; and the urge to watch it over and over and over again seems unquenchable! Make no mistake; this is true even in the most unexpected of places.
In Afghanistan (may God bless this battered country) where I have been living for over a year, foreigners don’t have many options for leisure and outdoor recreation owing to insecurity-imposed restrictions. After office in the evenings, they head to their heavily fortified guesthouses (sometimes in armoured cars); its vice versa in the mornings: any detours could be costly for life – so you have to avoid them! While you cannot help growing accustomed to such back and forth movements from Sunday to Thursday, many of us have found solace in movies, reading, and board games as off-duty ways to keeping our brains excited. The aspect of brotherhood and socialistic tendencies are very impressive here: quite often, when somebody buys and gets through with a novel, or VCD or DVD, he/she will let it float and circulate to whoever might be interested. That is how The Last King of Scotland crept into this part of the world and engulfed the community here like a wild bush fire. The heinous plot, characters, setting, and actions portrayed in the movie have dominated dinner-table discussions in the Afghan capital, Kabul, for several months, effectively turning president Iddi Amin, Uganda and Ugandans into icons of brutality and savagery in Africa.
I have to confess I was excited at first, by the extent of discussion about Uganda. In fact, I felt flattered that every body around, including those who didn’t know where Uganda is located on the map, seemed so interested about my country’s history. I became an authority on Uganda, filling in gaps to the story and quickly gained some rather unpalatable social capital by way of being more widely known among the foreign community; albeit for the wrong reasons! To some expatriates, I was the “king’s son” (God forbid). However, as the dinner-table discussions unendingly progressed from hours, to days, to weeks and so on, I grew increasingly uncomfortable. I had to critically reflect on why such a movie, which in my opinion is so ordinary, could so ably capture people’s imagination for all that long. In the quest to find clues, I posed several questions to myself: What do people find so interesting about the savagery and brutality of president Iddi Amin? What was the intention of the movie’s directors? Were the dinner-table discussions on Iddi Amin and Uganda a credit or a liability to the reputation of Ugandans? How does The Last King of Scotland benefit Uganda as a country, and Ugandans as a people?
I was still grappling with these questions when I took some trips to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates. Whew, I swear I did not have to bother to explain about my nationality. Whenever I would mention that I come from Uganda in response to some question either from Immigration officials, or taxi drivers, or ordinary curious citizens, they would excitedly yell: “oh, Iddi Amin’s country?” They would quickly assure me how they had enjoyed watching The Last King of Scotland – as if I cared to know. Believe me; I would feel humiliated, outraged and flabbergasted. I asked myself why Uganda as a country and Ugandans as a people must always be known for wrong reasons.
I recall with deep regret, the attention I attracted from immigration officials the first time I landed at Pakistan’s Islamabad International Airport in June 2006. Uganda is included in a short list of countries that Pakistan considers a threat, and despite having all my travel papers in order, my baggage was thoroughly checked repeatedly. The immigration officials made me sign a special Federal Investigations Agency surveillance form indicating which hotel I would be staying in – before they wished me a belated “enjoy your stay in Islamabad!” That was all because that I held a Ugandan passport! Of course, I have since then gone through the same drill every time I pass through any Pakistan airport and naturally gotten used to those annoyances though it’s a constant reminder of how poorly regarded Ugandans are at international level. Can I blame Pakistan authorities for that? No! They are not the ones who made me a national of a rogue state perceived by the world community as dubious, monstrous and scandalous. The officials would only be doing their job – just in case I ended up acting like “Ugandan, proper.”
Therefore with due respect to Hollywood, the directors and actors who participated in the movie, my thesis is that The Last King of Scotland has intensified Uganda’s exposure to global ridicule, contempt and odium. It has inflicted a fresh injury to our bleeding wound, made us a global laughing stock and revived feelings of bitterness amongst local communities against which president Iddi Amin committed atrocities. Accordingly, I can emphatically state that The Last King of Scotland is not only malevolent in its plot, but also its outcome in respect of global perception about Uganda and Ugandans. If I had wings, I would fly to Hollywood; look straight into the eyes of the movie directors and say: “hey guys, Uganda and Ugandans deserve an apology!”
Painfully and regrettably, Forest Whitaker received a VIP reception when he recently visited Uganda. He even successfully lured our president, General Museveni into almost declaring him a national hero, while he described the movie as a landmark success. Iam sure Museveni looked at The Last King of Scotland only from the perspective of justifying his armed struggles against Iddi Amin’s regime. Nevertheless, politics aside, The Last King of Scotland is a huge dent to the country’s image, which Museveni has struggled to build since he grabbed power in 1986. I hope he will realise sooner that The Last King of Scotland is nothing more than a Hollywood money-maker, and doesn’t deserve the applause it has received.
I urge government to be more proactive in dissuading moviemakers from documenting such inflammatory themes. Don’t get me wrong: I have never condoned state censorship on the media or entertainment or anything, but come on, we need to be positive. It does not always have to be Amin, Kony, Aids, election violence, and Global Fund scandals. Ugandans are severely hungry for success stories to turn over a new chapter and boost the esteem of Ugandans living within the country and the diaspora.
The people of Kigezi have a Rukiga proverb, which says “ebyomwirisizo tibitaaha omuuka” (what happens in the grazing area stays there and does not reach home). No doubt, Uganda is rich with rotten history, but there is no point resurrecting it every now and then. We ought to safe guard against awakening ghosts and washing our dirty linen in public! We need healing as a country and as a people; and such healing demands that we forge ahead without looking back!
Denis Mutabazi
July 2007
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