Whitaker and Mirren Shine Like Oscar Winners

Sept. 28, 2006 — -- There really are two parallel film industries.

One produces Hollywood studio features -- big-budget, big movies with the broadest possible appeal that depend more and more on foreign markets to make a profit.

Just underneath, are low-budget, independently produced movies aimed at folks like us: intelligent grown-ups, where the only special effect is talent and, if we're lucky, genius.

This week we're lucky with films: One about a queen, the other about a mad despot who makes himself king -- and both stars really could end up winning Oscars.

"The Last King of Scotland": Shot on location in Uganda, one scene takes place in a village so remote, the villagers thought Forest Whitaker was the real Idi Amin. And they kept asking, "Why is he making the same speech all day?"

About halfway through "The Last King of Scotland," you'll think Whitaker is the real Idi Amin, too.

Made on an $8 million budget, "The Last King of Scotland" is a first feature film from documentary director Kevin Macdonald. One reason the village life never looks staged: It's not.

We see Amin through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), who becomes the dictator's private physician, then his adviser -- and then has to run for his life.

Whitaker, in an amazing performance, takes us from charismatic to terrifying. OK, Forest, start writing your Oscar speech. Grade: A-

"The Queen": A second low-budget, high-IQ film with an uncanny performance from a probable Oscar winner, "The Queen" takes a look at the royal family after Princess Diana's death.

Helen Mirren rules as Queen Elizabeth II. It's not just the physical resemblance, which is astonishing.

She somehow makes us feel the command, the confidence, the royal presence we imagine she'd have if we were in the same room with the real Elizabeth.

The queen totally underestimates the outpouring of sympathy after Diana's death.

Prime Minister Tony Blair persuades her to return to London, and she drags her husband -- who's portrayed as a total idiot -- back to Buckingham Palace, to see for herself, and save the crown -- or at least her reputation.