Did anyone else find the last third of the movie was ruined by the absolutely absurd premise that the stunningly beautiful wife of a nearly omnipotent and clearly homicidal dictator, living in luxury, would risk her life and that of her family for a fling with a not-very-attractive, self-obsessed foreigner?
I find it no more absurd than the fact that such things occur in real life. People make stupid decisions, despite the obvious consequences they may face. One of Amin's wives (the one which Kay is based upon) did have an affair and died from a botched abortion. Regardless of the looks or nationality of her lover, engaging in such an extra-marital affair whilst being the wife of someone like Idi Amin seems very foolish, yet it did happen.
shareYup. But this didn't happen. It' like shooting a biography of Margaret Thatcher and casually suggesting that Dennis was having an affair with a chorus girl.
shareIn detail, it did not, but one of Amin's wives did have an affair behind his back and then died during a botched abortion. The man with whom she had the affair was merely changed to be Nicholas instead of the person who it had been in real life.
The basic concept still applies, though. It may be absurd for someone in such a position to engage in an extra-marital affair, but based on what I have observed of human behavior, it is not unrealistic.
We don't know what Kay's life was like. Maybe it was hellish, being a wife of such a monster and had no way out. Maybe she wanted just a little humanity in her relationship for once. Self-preservation is not everything --- there must be something that worth preserving in the first place.
shareI am not trying to judge her. I am merely addressing the OP's point of the absurdity of the plot device, when such things occur in real life all the time.
shareKay may be married to Amin but as soon as we see her, there's something going on that's not right between them.
Amin introduces his wives to Garrigan one after the other. He tells Garrigan how many children each wife has given him. Garrigan has no reaction to this info because he doesn't realise how important an African woman becomes to her community once she has children. When Amin introduces Kay he does not mention that Kay has given him a child: it's Kay herself who let's Garrigan know she has a child, that it's her son who got the t-shirt.
Later, Garrigan is called to Kay's house to treat her son Mackenzie. He discovers that Mackenzie is not recieving any treatment for a treatable condition AND that Amin visits the house to see the children but not Kay herself, ie, Kay and the President are not sleeping together. Garrigan takes Amin to task about how he is isolating Mackenzie unneccesarily. What Garrigan doesn't realise is that to the average African, disability is a shameful thing and carries all sorts of connotaions of evil: either the disabled person has been cursed or is capable of cursing others themselves.
Amin is ashamed of Kay and Mackenzie. He continues to support them privately but doesn't continue a sexual relationship with Kay because he assumes that Mackenzie's illness originates in Kay because Amin has plenty of other healthy children. Amin probably assumes that if he got Kay pregnant again they would have another disabled child.
Garrigan champions Mackenzie and provides support for Kay's battle for him to be recognised publicly. In other words, Garrigan is a sympathetic person in Kay's eyes. She is also a healthy young woman who isn't having sex and the doctor is probably one of the few men that she can legitimately turn to for contact. Of course she's going to sleep with him, especially as he makes it so obvious that he's falling for her.
Actually, the director said that she didn't die of the abortion. Her body was found in a car, dismembered.
share".....to the average African....."
There's no such thing.
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I felt like the movie didn't dwell to much in the deep of their relationship, so Kay taking such a big risk for a fling like you call didn't make much sense yes. But it didn't ruin the movie for me though.
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