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.
You're forgetting "The Reagans" staring Mr. Barbara Streisdand, James Brolin as RWR. And as you said, it was a hit piece.
Please choose your language with the consideration that there are ladies present.
DUH!! Which is which??
DUH!! Which is which??
Meryl Streep the Hollywood lefty must have done a very sympathetic of her fellow lib Julia Child, who said more than once that, cooking career aside, she could never sit and break bread with a Republican at the same table.
“Bon appetit! But only if you agree with me.”
Margaret Thatcher is portrayed as hallucinating, enfeebled, and senile. The fascinating story of her rise to the premiership is given short shrift.
We see none of her discussions with Presidents Reagan or Bush, with Gorbachev, nor with the Queen. We don't even hear one of her most famous quotes, to Bush 41, "This is no time to go wobbly." Incredibly, in the scenes showing Prime Minister's question time, the Labor opposition is given more lines than MT. Her rebuilding of the UK economy is barely mentioned, and then limited to headlines saying that the rich got richer.
If you are interested in her life, read her autobiographies, The Path to Power and The Downing Street Years. Do not see The Iron Lady.
Are. You. Serious?? I see only the ads of her grandeur and high political control. I wanted to see it. They really focused on her illness and didn’t show any of her life and strength?
Man, in that case, I hope Meryl doesn’t win the Oscar. That woman in the Help was excellent. I am mad that the ads tricked many conservatives into paying their $. My parents included. They wen, but they never told me if they liked it.
Very few scenes of her actually leading as a powerful politician. An intentional leftist oversight, IMHO, especially when there is an ample historical record that could have brought to life much of MT's accomplishments.
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You are eminently correct about the movie. Wish I'd read the FR comments before seeing it.
What really ticks me off is that, as another poster noted, the TV ads make it look like The Iron Lady is a positive portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. It is, in fact, a decidedly anti-Thatcher slander.
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