Last King of Scotland

Today, I finally saw "The Last King of Scotland". I had wanted to see it for some time, but it wasn't immediately released in Thailand and by the time I got to the States it was only in certain theaters and I was traveling a lot.
I am glad I finally did get to see it. It is an intense, powerful and terrifying movie (Note: it has strong language, nudity, sexual content and violence). It was interesting to see the Scottish doctor relate to a foreign culture and struggle with grasping the nuances of living in a different country. Moreover, Forrest Whitaker earns his Best Actor acclaims with his portrayal of the ruthless and paranoid dictator Idi Amin.
Honestly, the first time I remember hearing Idi Amin's name was when I was reading Brother Andrew's second biography and he was talking about his time in Uganda and his near fatal escape from dictator's regime. I really didn't know much about him other than he killed hundreds of thousands of Ugandans and nearly destroyed the country in doing so.

The sad thing is that this is a familiar story... Pol Pot, Stalin, Saddam Hussein... and whoever is responsible for the horror in Burma/Myanmar. It's that last one I want to home in on- the atrocities and my ignorance. The fact is, after living near Myanmar for almost 2 years, I don't really know who is the leader of Myanmar. I know that for decades the Burmese have been committing genocide trying to kill the Shan, the Karen and anyone else that isn't like them. The hunt them down, rape their women, steal their children and grind them up in a mix of landmines and automatic weapons. What I do know is that March 11th is Pray for Burma Day and that you (& I ) can go to www.prayforburma.org to learn more... so we don't have to wait for a movie to come out nearly 30 years later to get educated.

I wonder if the people of Burma wish Anna Nicole would have died there... so they might get a little bit of news coverage.

So check out the movie and the website and pray for those who need it most.


(Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures)