Posted on 01/13/2012 10:19:31 AM PST by Kaslin
“We shall stand on principle or we will not stand at all,” Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) states late in the new film, “The Iron Lady.” The movie- which explores the life of the masterful former prime minister of England—attempts to show the conservative politician in both her glory and in her latter years. In doing so, it successfully portrays Thatcher’s political successes but stumbles along the way by focusing too much on her health after her tenure as prime minister.
The film begins with Thatcher as a retired politician stumbling through life as a confused older woman and believing that her late husband Denis (Jim Broadbent) is still alive. She is a shell of the women she once was and spends her time with her family and watching the news. These scenes drag on tirelessly until it eventually flashes back to the beginnings of her career.
A young Thatcher (Alexandra Roach) is seen facing off against the obstacles that stood against a young woman in the United Kingdom. This Thatcher—headstrong and ambitious—doesn’t want to be relegated to the back rooms with the other ladies. She’s idealistic enough to realize that she can do more.
Her political career eventually gets under way and after losing an election at the age of twenty-four, she eventually wins a seat in Parliament. That seat leads her to a position as Secretary for Education and eventually leads her to victory as Britain's first female prime minister. Yet, even as her career trajectory leads her to victory after hard-earned victory, she’s still surrounded by men who undervalue and undermine her.
The scenes showing this successful woman in what was once considered a man’s world are particularly well-done. In a world of shiny black shoes, she wore high heels. In a world of men’s drab business suits, she wore colorful dresses. Thatcher was and continues to be one of a kind.
Halfway through the story, her conservative values and her success as a small government leader shine through—an unexpected development in a Hollywood film. Her advice that “the medicine is harsh but the patient requires it to live” is seen as she takes on political adversaries and engages in a war to keep the Falkland Islands. In one particularly-impressive scene showing Thatcher’s unique personality, she talks tough to an American Secretary of State and then gently offers him a cup of tea.
It’s unfortunate, though, that the film takes so long to get to her tenure as Prime Minister. For a movie that is approximately 100 minutes long, it’s disappointing that the film only shows her becoming prime minister around the sixty-minute mark. Before then, the film meanders and shows Thatcher as an elderly confused old woman trying to remember her daily chores.
As usual, Streep delivers a strong performance as Thatcher, which will likely earn her the 17th Oscar nomination of her career. If only the story was as strong as its leading lady.
Too often, “The Iron Lady” spends its time on Thatcher’s declining health rather than her courageous career. But for a Hollywood production aiming to capture a conservative icon, “The Iron Lady” is a solid but not a spectacular film.
Streep is not an actress.
She is a gifted mimic.
Years after Meryl Streep’s phony alar scare-rampage, I still cannot separate her from her highly leftist social stance. I am not in awe of her and never have been.
As to how much she resembles Thatcher, I don’t even think she looks like Thatcher’s sister (if she has one). All Meryl Streep looks like is Meryl Street. Can’t hide that hatchet face that Thatcher doesn’t have.
Thatcher never claimed to be a feminist icon though I’m sure Hollyweird likes that idea.
I can only imagine..
One day they will make a movie hating Reagan...they dare not just yet...so Maggie will have to do for now.
Poor Dick Nixon...guess they don’t even want to kick him around anymore
They hated Dame Thatcher back in the day and now they are taking cheap-shots at her memory.
Rotton Tomatoes give it a 54%/63% which is good for a Green Tomato.
Streep is no fan of Thatcher, so this is more about Streep and less about any accuracy. Would be like having a SNL comedian do a movie about Reagan.
I was fooled once by Streep when I went to see her portrayal of Julia Child. I came away thinking that is more about Streep than Julia Child.
Of course, you can fault the screenwriters.
Bottom line, not wasting my time watching this rubbish that has been pretty much panned as false portrait of a great lady by just about everyone. Chaulk it up as one of the worse movies of the year.
On the other hand, if you want to treat yourself to something good...REnt THE GUARD.
Streep is to acting what the A bomb is to sashimi slicing. It is amazing there is scenery left after she is done with all her chewing
Streep is to acting what the A bomb is to sashimi slicing. It is amazing there is scenery left after she is done with all her chewing
There's something quintessentially airhead about that picture of Meryl Streep.
I have always admired Lady Thatcher, but I would not like to ever have to meet head on those eyes of hers.
Rather stand on railroad tracks at midnight and watch a locomotive’s headlight coming at me at 90 m.p.h.
Streep the lefty portraying the conservative Iron Lady? Believe I’ll pass on this one. Too many surviving videos of the real deal to watch.
I recall when she testified before a Congressional committee investigating the use of pesticides in agriculture--having once played a farmer's wife gave her expertise in the area.
The review Sounds like what I expected. They want people remembering Dame Thatcher as a confused old has been rather than the PM who put her boot up that Argentinian Junta’s ass in the Falklands and pulled Britian’s Own head out of its own ass.
But then it Is H’wood: the same pit that’s been trying to accuse Reagan of suffering from Alzheimers while he was IN Office.
Vile, just Vile.
Jesus...the number of times that I’ve heard people (Hollywood Asslickers) proclaim her “acting talents!” EVERY time I look at this shrew, it reminds me of my drunken stupor nightmare dreams of the nastiest bitch ex-wife one could have. I go out of my way to avoid anything this in which this unfortunate looking ‘actress’ could be plying her trade......[I just physically shuddered with that same kind of feeling when you see some guy get a kicker in the balls]
Agree!
She is more suited to SNL than to the big screen.
They’ll nominate her for an Oscar, nevertheless.
They most certainly do. Take Richard Nixon, for example. The Left totally ignores the fact that Nixon created the EPA, started Affirmative Action, appointed the Supreme Court Justice who wrote Roe v. Wade, embraced and expanded the Great Society, pushed through an arms pact that killed our missile defense program, and tried to push a guaranteed-annual-income program through Congress. They only remember that he nailed Alger Hiss, a crime for which he could, in their views, never atone.
The same goes for J. Edgar Hoover. The Left forgets that he shut down the Axis spy rings during WWII and nailed the KKK. To them, he can never be forgiven for having opposed Communism.
Therefore, teh Hollyweird Left churns out hatchet-job movies like Nixon/Frost, J. Edgar, and the Thatcher film. It will be at least a generation or two before we see a movie that treats Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, Margaret Thatcher, etc. fairly.
The reviewer describes the film as tedious to watch with prose that is tedious to read. I don’t believe I’ve ever used the word “eventually” three times within the span of two sentences. It’s not artfully enough done to qualify as a rhetorical device.
Bunches of people destroyed many livelihoods with the alar scare.
The reviewer describes the film as tedious to watch with prose that is tedious to read. I don’t believe I’ve ever used the word “eventually” three times within the span of two sentences. It’s not artfully enough done to qualify as a rhetorical device.
Bunches of people destroyed many livelihoods with the alar scare.
No contest. Maggie wins. The hollyweird dirtbag couldn’t carry her purse.
Couldn't have said it better myself!
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