“The Iron Lady,” starring Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, is a biopic of the life of Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher was not only the first (and only) female prime minister in Britain, but she was also the first female head of a country in the West — a big step for women, even if you disagreed with her politics. And politics have little to do with how you’ll react to this movie. Streep’s Golden Globe-winning performance and the phenomenal script are reasons enough to see this stunning film.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd,@@http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1630273/@@ “The Iron Lady” does more than just recount Thatcher’s life or career. We first meet her as an old woman, a sad figure bereft of power, battling ill health and living in her house alone. Though her assistant manages a calendar and her grown daughter drops in to look after her, Thatcher is isolated. She sees things others don’t see, like the image of her dead husband, Dennis (Jim Broadbent),@@http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000980/@@ who died years ago. He talks to her, seemingly encapsulating her feelings of grief, her loving memory and her conscience, reminding her of the price she paid for her power. Broadbent’s performance is at times loving and menacing, and the cinematography of his presence and disappearances puts the audience in the same position as Streep.
Thatcher’s political past is told in flashbacks: As she finally lets go of her husband’s possessions and clothes and donates them to charity, items remind her of her childhood, her marriage and her venture into politics. Her struggle to let go of her husband mirrors the story of her rising career.
Though as a young woman she is an unassuming-looking blonde, Thatcher is stronger than she appears. Taking the advice of her father to never run with the crowd and go her own way, she attends Oxford, campaigns for political positions and swears off ideas of female frailty and domesticity: “I cannot die washing a tea cup,” she says.@@why is she telling me about the movie? i want to know what she thinks about the movie@@
The film explores how Thatcher challenged traditional gender roles when she entered parliament and later became prime minister.
“No matter how I’ve tried to fit in … I will never be one of them,” she says of the boys-club mentality in British politics.
The cinematography and wardrobe emphasize how she sticks out in the sea of men. She wears a dress of sky blue in a literal crowd of black suits. Her white heels are the only ones in Parliament. In fact, her wardrobe undergoes an interesting change as the flashbacks progress: Blue is her mainstay, so watch out when she wears purple, red or black. The strategic choices say something about her mood and her goals.
Thatcher’s conservative politics are summed up in the film with two main points: Classism exists and in order to overcome it you must work hard, aspire to more and not expect things to be handed to you.@@ugh@@ Admittedly, I don’t know much about Thatcher’s real-world platform, but the film presents her political ideas in no one, clear slant: The viewer can see both the pros and cons of her politics.
Her free-market economics faced much criticism at the time, especially because unemployment rose to an all-time high in Great Britain when Thatcher was prime minister. The film includes footage of riots and protests — it doesn’t try to skim over her unpopularity.
“You’re supposed to be a mother,” one protester shouts as Thatcher drives through a crowd in her car. “You’re not a mother; you’re a monster!”
Thatcher’s response was “Yes, the medicine’s harsh, but it’s necessary for the patient to live.”@@which patient? the rich?@@ She saw herself doing something good for Britain, though many didn’t like it.
The film subtly asks if her ambition for political power was worth it. Do people remember her, or is she forgotten? Was the strain on her marriage and distance from her children worth it in the end? It is a complicated question dealt with honestly.
You don’t need to know anything about British politics to see this film. You don’t need to be familiar with Margaret Thatcher to see this film — though I’m sure if you know a little it will be interesting to compare how the film treats her and her policies. This biopic tells the story of a former global leader and humanizes her story.
Grade: A