"The Iron Lady" Movie Review

"The Iron Lady" movie poster.

"Biopic of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep, with a younger version played by Alexandra Roach), the United Kingdoms first female Prime Minister. Now elderly and senile, Thatcher spends much of her time in conversation with her husband Denis (Jim Broadbent, with younger version played by Harry Lloyd), who is dead. Interspersed with her everyday life are snippets of her life and political career. The middle class daughter of a grocer (Iain Glen), she obtained a good degree and developed an interest in politics. She was first elected in 1959 and quickly developed a reputation for dealing with difficult issues and showing herself more than capable of taking on her male counterparts in the House of Commons. As Prime Minister, she takes on the very powerful unions seeing her popularity plummet until her patriotic response to Argentina's invasion of the Falkland islands leads to her re-election. In the longer term, her rigid approach with her colleagues leads to her downfall and the Conservative party ousts her from the leadership." Written by garykmcd (Link below.)

Meryl Streep running the House of Commons.

Meryl Streep (with help from her makeup and hair artist, J. Roy Helland), was amazing. And I don't think anyone would ever know that she wasn't as British as all of the other cast members, weren't she not so famous. Although I don't think I would've agreed with her character's policies, it was inspiring to see someone so strong in such adversity. What ups and downs, Thatcher was incredible and I can't help but compare it to the way people view President Obama. It's like people forget it's a very difficult job running a country. I mean the IRA must've been a bitch to deal with, let alone all of the other regular law-making.

And I must thank the people involved with making this film for making Alexander Haig (Matthew Marsh) look like an ass, because he was. (Even though I'm an American, that part about Hawaii made me laugh.) When President Reagan was shot, instead of concerning himself about whether the President was alive or not, Mr. Haig proceeded to say that he was in charge and he was very much wrong in that regard. Though at the time he held the position of United States Secretary of State, which is very high in power, there were still four other people that would've had to die or resign from their positions before he could even suggest he was in charge. And while he was White House Chief of Staff, he suggested to President Nixon to seize control of the army rather than be impeached or resign from office following the Watergate scandal. He's a peach; good old Al.

Jim Broadbent (L) and Meryl Streep.

The only problem I could have with this film, is that they didn't show enough of her rising to the top. But I imagine that could've gotten tedious.

The clothing was marvelous. The director, Phyllida Lloyd (what a pretty name!), did an excellent job. The flashbacks weren't too much to handle. It's a long and interesting life to put in one movie and I feel as though they have done a great job.

Script can be accessed here: http://www.simplyscripts.com/2012/01/05/the-iron-lady-for-your-consideration/.

Favorite Lines:

Margaret Thatcher: It used to be about trying to do something. Now it's about trying to be someone.

Margaret Thatcher: Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become... habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think we become.

Alexander Haig: So you are proposing to go to war over these islands. They're thousands of miles away, a handful of citizens, politically and economically insignificant, if you'll excuse me.
Margaret Thatcher: Just like Hawaii... I imagine.

Margaret Thatcher: Where did you go?
Denis Thatcher: South Africa.
Margaret Thatcher: Ah, yes.
Denis Thatcher: How many days passed before you realized I'd gone? Probably had to ask the cleaning woman where I was.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1007029/plotsummary and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1007029/quotes.