The Iron Lady

[finn]

Right up front: Streep is absolutely awesome! If she does not get the Oscar for this then no single performance will ever rate one again.

The film itself I thought to be interesting on an emotional level where the poignance of the decline in old age is illustrated by contrast to the strength of youth. In fact I see the movie as really being about this; a portrait of the final decline in the human experience using one of the world's most powerful individuals of recent times to demonstrate the decline and decay that age levels on everyone, high and low alike.

The historical references were just cameos to illustrate Thatchers decline and they were not especially well framed nor sequential, which I think was deliberate to leave a feeling of fragmented visions of the past: almost like taking a ride inside her dementia.

Whilst this was artfully done, the movie did little to portray Thatcher's achievements she was a master strategist and intellectually streets ahead of those around her, whilst at her peak, having the biggest set of balls on the planet. Little was made of how she tamed the mining unions that held the UK to ransom, how she sold council houses to the tenants and changed them from socialist voters to conservative voters and the snippets from the Falkands War were glossed over too quickly almost as if any genuine good she did was too embarrassing to remember.

This touched many personal memories. I lived through the Thatcher era: I was in my second year at college when she cut teacher places and effectively took any job prospects we had away, making our third year mute. She was hated up and down the country for ruining so many careers, homes, and communities; she was far from my favourite person. But she was strong, she fought the European Union (the then Common Market) and wound back the almost billion pounds per year contribution the piss-taking French and Germans had levied on Britain, to around 400 million.

She stood firm against the IRA: this movie covers Airey Neve's assasination but did not cover Ian Gow, her private parlaimentary secretary, who I met on a few occasions mostly to argue with, but a man who still had the grace and decency to extend a welcome to a cocksure, arrogant student leader and give him a tour of the houses of parlaiment. Gow was killed by an IRA bomb in 1990. I was less than a 100 metres from the Harrods bomb and had my windows cracked by the Bandstand bomb, we waited to see if we'd get called up for the Falklands and said good luck to mates who went to the South Atlantic. But I was never really afraid as there was a certainty of purpose that Thatcher gave, a stoicism that permeated life in Britain much like in the second world war under Churchill.

Thatcher was a scalpel that was sharp and cut deep, like a surgeon she operated on the UK, but like all opeartions you eventually need a nurse to stitch and salve the wounds. We all prospered in the nations recovery, a recovery that would never have happened without that sharp knife for an operation needed to save the patient.

This is not the story of a heroine, the rise of powerful histrical figure. Another movie one day might examine her in her strength, a giant amongst minnows; this one does not and for all the nuances of her performance, Streep does not get to catalogue the achievements of this remarkable woman.

I was left moved by the sight of this once powerful figure dealing with her dementia and imo the real topic of the film, but unsatisfied by the lack of continuity and what Thatcher did: good, bad and ugly as it all was.

[Cail]

That echoes many reviews that I've read.....Amazing performance by Streep, completely unsatisfying movie regarding Thatcher's complexities.

[finn]

Y'know its funny, I never liked Thatcher, but you can't ignore that she was a true Leader in every sense of the word, regardless of whether you agreed with her, her will was so strong and she was so formidable, that you knew you were on the path to something; not dithering around as so many other wet politicians do.

I almost feel like I resent the movie because although she was not a person who represented my views, she was a great leader and this appears to be taking a cheap shot at her after she's lost the power to fight back herself. That offends me.

[Zarathustra]

Man, it's hard not to view this subject in political terms. I don't want to turn it into a political debate, but I wonder how the film would have been different if made by people (and an industry) that was more sympathic--or at least not openly hostile--to her conservatism. And on a side note, I wonder if feminists (who usually lean left) feel torn on the subject. On the one hand, they probably disagree with Thatcher's politics, but on the other hand, this movie apparently downplays one of the strongest female leaders/role models in history, and instead shows her as fundamentally weak and deranged merely because she had the "audacity" to age. That's not really fair to women. Hell, it's not fair to anyone.

Aging and its problems (like dementia) are inescapable aspects of the human condition, and as such are valid subjects to explore in art. But if this was selectively edited to make a strong woman look weak merely becuase she was a conservative, then it's a shame. Once Hillary Clinton starts to suffer her age, I wonder if she would be portrayed in a manner that downplayed her accomplishments in favor of her failing health? I doubt it.

Finn, nice write up. Thanks for the fair perspective.

[lucimay]

And on a side note, I wonder if feminists (who usually lean left) feel torn on the subject. On the one hand, they probably disagree with Thatcher's politics, but on the other hand, this movie apparently downplays one of the strongest female leaders/role models in history...

...Finn, nice write up. Thanks for the fair perspective.

yes that's the fence i'd always sat on with Thatcher (as with phyllis schlafley)
i so admired what a powerhouse of a woman she was but didn't agree with much of her politics. the woman could sure throw a scare into a bunch of old white geezers, couldn't she?!! you can't help but admire that kind of woman.

and yes, good write up finn! thanks!