"The Iron Lady": tough as nails, soft as silk
I was part of a play reading just last night for a play about the suffragette movement in Britain in the early 20th century. In it, there is a speech taken nearly verbatum from the parliment in June of 1914, paraphrasing: "if we give women the vote, what is to stop them from joining this very chamber? what is to stop the from becoming speaker?! (laughter from the house of commons) What? are we to some day call out MADAM secretary?"
I found it quite coincidental that I read that play the same night I saw "The Iron Lady" for the answer was a resounding, "YES" and moreso, you'd be calling the Prime Minister "Madam" for over a decade. thank you Emiline Pankhurst and Margaret Thatcher.
One simple conversation with my husband makes clear that there is a certain controvery over this Weinstien Company biopic. Some are apt to say it doesn't show the conservative leader in a positive light by her liberal producers-- I think, were one to make that objection, they are terribly wrong. Biographies are very hard. Often they are taken on by Ken Burns or PBS and go on for weeks; OR they run in a very formal and awkward way as a sort of point by point fact analysis of a person's life. If someone were to do that with me, it would be quite depressing indeed, though, as George Constanza points out, "If you were to take everything I've ever done in my life and condense it into one week... AH! it looks pretty good."
But the filmmakers do not squeeze all that is Margaret Thatcher into a week. They take her life from the end's perspective and watch as she reviews her own history; and how she was an uncompromising leader-- one the world needed in the 1980's-- and how she wove her femininity into one of the most powerful positions in the world.
As a child, and indeed today, I looked up to Margaret Thatcher. I knew nothing of her policies as a child, all I knew was that she was a woman and she was a leader. As the United States is still stretching it's legs into being mentally able to elect a female to it's highest office; I can't help but all the more sit in awe of the former Miss Roberts.
But less about the historicity of it all, more on the film.
I liked the way the material was presented. Wither accurate or not, we viewed Mrs. Thatcher in her later years struggle with letting go of her deceased and beloved husband. She sees visions of him. He is there, he is alive, but she is the only one who sees him. Obviously, there is no way to verify this as a fact. Only the former world leader herself would know this; but it yields an interesting device in the storytelling. She talks through the past with him, the past those around her now don't seem to remember, or care to dwell on; even as she struggles with the idea that she knows he's not real.
We are introduced to (what we across the pond would recognize as a 'Reagan conservative') a woman who pulled herself up by her lower class means bootstraps and didn't apologize for her ambition or her zeal. she had a loving and devoted husband who encouraged her to pursue her dreams despite her own hesitation that Brits would ever elect a woman to it's highest office.
She is a powerful grandmother in the opening scene, covertly buying a pint of milk at the local grocher. She is concerned with the price. It sums the character in a single scene, really, a single sentence. It is the 'rosebud' of the film and it happens at the very beginning. By the time the film was over, I thought it was quite the elegant device, one you had to really pay attention to to understand and appreciate.
On the 'who's who' side, Meryl Streep was, once again, absolutely brilliant. I don't have enough superlatives for her, but in 50 years I can promise you that people will still be talking about what an absolutely amazing actress she is. She is the Margaret Thatcher of acting-- uncompromising in her devotion to her craft. I could go on and on by the nuance of her performance. It was stunning. Jim Broadbent was great as her husband. I love him.
There is one scene about mid-way through the picture, of Lady Thatcher getting ready for a dinner at the palace of the Queen. She is being advised even as the seamstress is fixing a button on her lace and silk gown. The image of this woman in formal wear ordering around a bunch of scared men is a little fun for any woman with ambitions of power, but watching Meryl Streep do it was downright smile-inducing joy.
Overall, 'The Iron Lady' is worth viewing for several reasons, a slight history lesson (I was too young to remember or know how it was that Lady Thatcher left office, I was appalled when I found out how), a charming love story and a master class in lead character acting. At the end of it, I'd say "The Iron Lady" passed through a diamond of a film.
I found it quite coincidental that I read that play the same night I saw "The Iron Lady" for the answer was a resounding, "YES" and moreso, you'd be calling the Prime Minister "Madam" for over a decade. thank you Emiline Pankhurst and Margaret Thatcher.
One simple conversation with my husband makes clear that there is a certain controvery over this Weinstien Company biopic. Some are apt to say it doesn't show the conservative leader in a positive light by her liberal producers-- I think, were one to make that objection, they are terribly wrong. Biographies are very hard. Often they are taken on by Ken Burns or PBS and go on for weeks; OR they run in a very formal and awkward way as a sort of point by point fact analysis of a person's life. If someone were to do that with me, it would be quite depressing indeed, though, as George Constanza points out, "If you were to take everything I've ever done in my life and condense it into one week... AH! it looks pretty good."
But the filmmakers do not squeeze all that is Margaret Thatcher into a week. They take her life from the end's perspective and watch as she reviews her own history; and how she was an uncompromising leader-- one the world needed in the 1980's-- and how she wove her femininity into one of the most powerful positions in the world.
As a child, and indeed today, I looked up to Margaret Thatcher. I knew nothing of her policies as a child, all I knew was that she was a woman and she was a leader. As the United States is still stretching it's legs into being mentally able to elect a female to it's highest office; I can't help but all the more sit in awe of the former Miss Roberts.
But less about the historicity of it all, more on the film.
I liked the way the material was presented. Wither accurate or not, we viewed Mrs. Thatcher in her later years struggle with letting go of her deceased and beloved husband. She sees visions of him. He is there, he is alive, but she is the only one who sees him. Obviously, there is no way to verify this as a fact. Only the former world leader herself would know this; but it yields an interesting device in the storytelling. She talks through the past with him, the past those around her now don't seem to remember, or care to dwell on; even as she struggles with the idea that she knows he's not real.
We are introduced to (what we across the pond would recognize as a 'Reagan conservative') a woman who pulled herself up by her lower class means bootstraps and didn't apologize for her ambition or her zeal. she had a loving and devoted husband who encouraged her to pursue her dreams despite her own hesitation that Brits would ever elect a woman to it's highest office.
She is a powerful grandmother in the opening scene, covertly buying a pint of milk at the local grocher. She is concerned with the price. It sums the character in a single scene, really, a single sentence. It is the 'rosebud' of the film and it happens at the very beginning. By the time the film was over, I thought it was quite the elegant device, one you had to really pay attention to to understand and appreciate.
On the 'who's who' side, Meryl Streep was, once again, absolutely brilliant. I don't have enough superlatives for her, but in 50 years I can promise you that people will still be talking about what an absolutely amazing actress she is. She is the Margaret Thatcher of acting-- uncompromising in her devotion to her craft. I could go on and on by the nuance of her performance. It was stunning. Jim Broadbent was great as her husband. I love him.
There is one scene about mid-way through the picture, of Lady Thatcher getting ready for a dinner at the palace of the Queen. She is being advised even as the seamstress is fixing a button on her lace and silk gown. The image of this woman in formal wear ordering around a bunch of scared men is a little fun for any woman with ambitions of power, but watching Meryl Streep do it was downright smile-inducing joy.
Overall, 'The Iron Lady' is worth viewing for several reasons, a slight history lesson (I was too young to remember or know how it was that Lady Thatcher left office, I was appalled when I found out how), a charming love story and a master class in lead character acting. At the end of it, I'd say "The Iron Lady" passed through a diamond of a film.
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