Rejoice! Hollywood bows to the Iron Lady
Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 13:15 I don't mind admitting that I felt a little tearful at several points during The Iron Lady, which I watched yesterday at Cineworld in Huntingdon.
I took my children, aged 14 and 17, and they were by far the youngest people there. I looked around and most of the audience were women (or couples) 'of a certain age'.
A lot has been said and written about the film and this week even the Prime Minister chipped in. As it happens, I agree with David Cameron's view that it might have been better to wait until after Lady Thatcher's death before making a film that presents such a personal portrait of its subject in old age.
Hollywood, however, waits for no man (or woman) to die and overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. For an unreconstructed Thatcherite like me there were some spine tingling moments, both real and dramatised. These included newsreel of Britain's warships returning from the Falklands and the magnificent way she confronted and despatched the unlamented 'wets' in her first Cabinet. Her touching romance and marriage to Denis was also nicely handled.
For me (spoiler alert) the only scene that jarred was very near the end when the 'ghost' of DT left (for the last time) with what seemed to be a barbed comment about his wife being (I paraphrase) "alright on your own because you're used to it". (It followed a scene in which Mrs T was perceived to, unwittingly, put politics ahead of family matters - in this case her daughter Carol's driving test.)
My son however interpreted Denis's words differently. He thought it was an affectionate attempt to encourage his wife to survive her twilight years on her own because she had overcome similar isolation throughout her career.
So you can read individual scenes in different ways, but that's what makes good art - the audience decides. What is clear is that this is no hatchet job. Dramatic licence has created some poignant, occasionally uncomfortable moments dramatising Lady Thatcher's increasing dimentia dementia but at no point do they undermine or detract from her stunning political career or her many achievements.
Meryl Streep is undoubtedly magnificent in the role and there is a strong supporting cast. I'm sure there will be lots of arguments about what was left out. For example, one moment that is missing that should have been included (in my opinion) is Mrs T's heroic performance in the House of Commons following her resignation. That day even her opponents were forced to admit that we will never see her like again - well, not in our lifetimes.
This is a minor quibble however. The Iron Lady is a 90-minute Hollywood film not a 26-part Britain at War style documentary.
Friends of Lady Thatcher (who understandably wish to protect both her reputation and her privacy) may not agree, but The Iron Lady is a minor triumph from almost every perspective.
In fact, the only people who may have cause to denounce it are domestic opponents and international enemies of Britain's greatest living prime minister.
Yes, The Iron Lady is that good. Rejoice!
Reader Comments (12)
I'm really looking forward to seeing it - but I haven't been to the cinema in years. I generally wait until I can watch it in the comfort of my own home - for obvious reasons.
She never seemed to have much problem putting family first where Mark was concerned. You have to feel sorry for Carol and Dennis (and the film is based on Carol's book?)
I'll have to make a point of watching that, but I don't bother with cinemas either.
I've read her book, 'The Downing St Years" and it was fascinating.
Having read this, and other eulogies on 'that woman', I think I need a fag.
dramatising Lady Thatcher's increasing dimentia
I didn't know she was dim. I never thought of her that way, anyway.
Oops.
I too will have to wait until it comes out on SKY or DVD, for obvious reasons, before I comment on the film.
I'm used to it by now; afteralI, millions (like me) have no option but to wait.
It beggars relief in this country that so-calls heavenly-embraces equality and diversity.
E&D my back-side - more like who's providing the little funding we have left.
Sorry to rant, but I really want to see this film, but am not allowed without a wait.
I was planning to see the film over the weekend but did not quite make it.
I have been hugely privileged to have briefly met Baroness Thatcher last year. She is very frail but still has her marbles as we exchanged greetings.
Her legacy and the adoration she still enjoys will outlast or the bitterness of the left.,
Did not enjoy this film. I found it really boring and fell asleep during the middle. Too much talking to departed Dennis for a start and nowhere near the kind of analysis needed for such a complex character. Thank goodness Meryl Streep is such a fantastic actress or the film would be dead in the water.
Its a cert 12A. Which means it's unsuitable for miners!
Ouch
Much though I admire Meryl Streep, I will not watch this film. The mere thought of Thatcher makes me sick.
You Thatcher luvvies must have short memories and smaller brain cells. That vainglorious woman brought our country to its knees. It will never recover. Look back at the eighties with her policy of free market and survival of the fittest. This rapidly escalated to bank interest rates of 15% and astronomic charges for electricity. Manufacturing industries closed down. Mass unemployment ensued. When world leader, British Aluminium could no longer afford the cost of electricity, the Russians gleefully snapped it up.
I wrote to her saying that if we followed the example of wealthy independent Norway we would make our electricity free of charge to all UK citizens. Redundant meter readers and accounts staff could quickly be absorbed into flourishing new businesses. Mile for mile we have the same length of coastline as Norway and hydro electricity is the cheapest. It does not rely solely on fiords; Norway is even experimenting with Osmosis now where rivers flow into the sea.
I received a charming reply from her saying that my letter had been passed to the Department for Energy. Eventually their long laborious reply was fatuous in the extreme.
I like to think that her flawed mental capacity is a retreat from saying, "What have I done!" But judging by her performance throughout, I have to doubt it. How nice that she and her family became so wealthy!