Review

Review Date: 15-January-12
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The Iron Lady (2011)

Following on the heels of The Queen (2006), The Iron Lady looks at the other most influential woman of twentieth-century Britain, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The movie sidesteps the restrictive linear course of biographies in a way that begs the audience not to judge its subject too harshly. Thatcher is introduced as she is (hypothetically) today, an octogenarian widow struggling with memory loss and ineffectuality. She is brilliantly played by Meryl Streep, who deserves no less praise, and maybe even extra praise, because everyone takes her talent for granted. From the opening scene Streep's bouffanted baroness establishes sympathy by conversing with her loving husband (Jim Broadbent), who has been dead for several years. She is very lonely, yet all she has in actuality are a fretful daughter, an absent son, and a host of patronizing observers.

Prompted by photos, videos, and the need to clean out her husband's closet, Thatcher's memories come spilling out in roughly chronological order. Born into a working-class family, she was inspired by her activist father to make a difference in the world despite the handicap of her gender. She had the good sense or fortune to marry a true helpmate while young, after which she steadily worked her way up the ranks of the Conservative Party. In 1979 she became the West's first female head of state. During her 11 years in office she dealt with social unrest, IRA bombings, the end of the Cold War, and conflict with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

The historical episodes aren't exactly a medley of greatest hits; in fact, most are recollections of painful hits. When the story returns to the present day, as it does often, we see that Thatcher is haunted by this, not repentant but bewildered why things didn't work out better. This perspective makes The Iron Lady a mournful film. Not only is the woman on screen old and alone, she appears to have been a less-than-successful wife, mother, and leader, at least in the traditional, non-political sense of the word as someone who inspires loyalty and unites people around her banner. This Thatcher spent her whole life blinkered, too stubborn or naïve to see beyond a single path. Her constant complaint is that none of her colleagues has the nerve, as she does, to make hard yet necessary decisions. She fails to understand that running a country requires discussion among different voices, and that compromise is not always a bad thing. It's not clear whether she grasps this even after being ousted from power by her own party. One must assume that politicians yearn for a measure of immortality. For the woman portrayed in this film, the unavoidable ravages of time and insurmountable shortcomings of personality make such a goal seem unlikely.

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