The Iron Lady (2011)

The general consensus on this film seems to be that while Meryl Streep gives a predictably fabulous performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the bulk of the movie is mediocre. I suspect that a good part of this criticism owes to the manner of the films presentation. Now its not unusual for a motion picture, especially a bio-pic to employ a framing story, to give both context as well as an excuse for the condensed presentation of events to unfold, The Iron Lady chooses as its framing story an elderly Lady Thatcher shuffling about her home in the early stages of dementia circa 2008. Fittingly given this set up the film goes for a slightly off kilter and disjointed (though still largely chronological in flashback) presentation of events, and includes the  hallucinatory presence of Margret's late husband Dennis (Jim Broadbent being delightful) as a sort of sounding board for the old lady's reminiscence's. Its a knee jerk reaction of some of Mrs. Thatcher's biggest supporters that depicting her in such a state of decline is disrespectful, as someone currently witnessing  his grandfather going through a similar decline I disagree, I thinks its a supremely sympathetic portrayal.

Streep's performance as Thatcher is rightly praised, she inhabits this role and looks eerily like 'the iron lady' in makeup. It a simple matter of artistic fact, or so I've heard and read many times, that one can't really capture a character unless they are able to see things from that characters point of view. Streep gives a very honest performance, Thatcher is not spared her faults but you understand where she's coming from and marvel at her consistency and determination. In fact I came away from this movie with a renewed respect and appreciation for Mrs. Thatcher, if you want to communicate who she was and what she was about, you'd be hard pressed to do it more efficiently then this film did. Still as I've heard critics say it might have been more interesting to have given us just a slice from the Iron Lady's life rather then a cliff notes of the whole thing, like maybe focusing on the party leadership fight, the Falklands war, or even her ouster from office, and while any of these episodes would make a good movie, as survey course bio-pic's go, this is a rather good one. ***