Review of The Iron Lady (2011) by Brett B — 04 Feb 2014

Meryl Streep (and the rest of the cast) is absolutely brilliant. Truly phenomenal. But the plot jumps around and plays more like an (overly) extended montage, jumping illogically between three-four timelines.

And the script is achingly preachy and surprisingly chauvinistic. Thatcher becomes little more than a puppet for the thoughts of men and, furthermore, is treated almost as the villain of the piece. In a movie with many opportunities to make feminist statements (both pro- and anti-Thatcher), the filmmakers have opted to demonize Thatcher for (get this) not being a stereotypical mother.

This is their approach. (That sort of thinking about women recalls Mitt Romney's out-dated opinions on women in the workplace which he espoused during the 2012 presidential election.) Other than Streep's commendable performance, the film makes no attempt to humanize Thatcher.