The Iron Lady

Well, I guess I put off seeing The Iron Lady long enough. I may have had access to this movie since it came out on DVD in 2012, but I never really found myself in the mood to see it.

After all, I knew it would include a few things with 100% certainty. 1) British people, 2) British Accents, 3) Old people losing their mind, and 4) Politics. For almost a year, I never felt like British Politics and Old People would satisfy my mood, and I would never get to really see the movie objectively with an open mind.

Well, clearly I ran out of time. April 8, 2013, Margaret Thatcher died, and now I am just an asshole for not seeing her movie first.

I won’t look at the guy’s mouth in the corner, I won’t look at that guy’s mouth in the corner, I won’t look at-
AHHH ITS SO BRITISH!

Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) is the first female Prime Minister (and currently the only one right?) in England history. This is a movie about her rise and fall to power. Also about her love life.

What a shitty plot description. I ain’t even mad though.

She has a husband who is very loving and dedicated to helping her politically, played by a very thin looking Jim Broadbent. I do love his voice. He needs to do more voice work in films.

I saw Iain Glen in this movie a lot, but I am not really too sure exactly who he was or why he was important. But man, was he around.

But yeah. She gets kind of kicked out of office because people get upset with her. Maybe blame her for many economic collapses, ruining their lives, stuff like that. Hard to really say. Then she gets old, gets dementia, and has a hard time remembering things, like the fact that her husband is dead. She might even forget she is a lady at times, but definitely remembers that she is iron.

Some Iron beings would love to have the opportunity to be the most hated person in England, as long as they got to be a person.

MARGARET THATCHER DIDN’T EVEN WATCH THE FILM ABOUT HER. Nor did her children (Who still bad mouthed it regardless. They’d make great internet movie reviewers). Either way, I don’t feel bad anymore. Too bad that was mostly because I saw the movie, and not that she didn’t see it. Still.

Here’s my big issue with the movie. It is called The Iron Lady, which I guess is a nickname she earned during her time as Prime Minister. But the film makes sure you know for a fact that most wouldn’t describe her as that anymore. In her final years, she gets the normal old age frailty, along with dementia, causing her to forget where she is, what she has done recently, and other events. Like that her husband is now dead, and she isn’t a PM anymore. Well damn. That is great acting opportunity, but not necessarily interesting topic for the movie about her life.

It would be fine if it was just at the end of the movie — if it was told in a chronological way. But it began and ended with the fact that she is old now, and had it spliced throughout her life. Great. So we really only get one scene of her as a young gal (when she was played by Alexandra Roach). After all, we have to get Streep in there ASAP. So we do get scenes of her on the road to PM, as PM, and the harsh decline, but it doesn’t feel natural watching it. Almost as if its blurry visions of Thatcher’s own recollection.

I don’t mean to be mean, but that is all I can think of as a description.

I found the movie hard to follow and very uninformative about Margaret Thatcher, which is why I am watching a movie on her life in the first place…damn it! I want to delve more into why she is the most hated and loved person in Great Britain over the last 100 years. How much of it is because she was a woman? Do people really hate her that much? Who knows. The movie doesn’t really try and answer that. Bah. What a waste.

Streep was of course fantastic in this movie, which is why she won Best Actress (back when the award meant something!). But I am disappointed that this is the only film I have on Thatcher, because it didn’t really teach me shit.