Reviews

Garrigan repeatedly comes across as a self-serving weasel (running a man over with his car to help Amin escape an attack, tattling on another member of Amin's cabinet, etc), but at the same time it's very, very easy to imagine someone acting in the same way.

McAvoy actually plays the lead character in this movie (Nicholas Garrigan) and his character is a fictional one, put into the film to help move the story along.

But the story isn't attempting to document history in broad strokes or in snapshots, it's aiming at a portrait of Amin. In that regard it is a success, largely due to a magnificent performance by Forest Whitaker.