I definitely went into this movie expecting that Forest Whittaker would be pretty good but the rest of the movie would be overly dramatic and less than great. Whittaker's performance ended up really deserving most of the credit that he is receiving. I can't really compare him to the somewhat random other best actor nominees, but it was quite a good performance. He pulls off a slightly crazy guy really well.
On a side note, I'm really glad there's becoming more and more roles like this one for otherwise not widely known actors who are generally pretty good. Phillip Seymour Hoffman had always been really good, Capote gave him recognition. Forest Whittaker was excellent in Good Morning Vietnam and some other things, and how he has received notice. Next up in my mind is Jack Black, who's fully capable and just awaiting the correct role.
What most surprised me about the movie was that the rest of it was quite good. The primary non-Whittaker character I thought did a really good job. The story was also just really interesting. I don't know to what aspect it's fully accurate but it was pretty informative but also character driven enough to keep you motivated. Through the first half of the movie, you're kind of rooting for Amin, and then you go through the transformation along with the primary character.
Given the quality of the movie and that its really an Academy-type movie (ie: drama, political, etc...) I'm really surprised this didn't get more nominees. One side note is that there are legitimately moments in the movie that I turned away from the screen from the gruesome stuff happening. It's pretty rare for that to happen to me, but it happened twice. Overall, really good acting and really good movie.
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