Review of The Iron Lady (2011) by Movieboy — 04 Feb 2012

Meryl Streep delivers an absolutely stunning performance as the Iron Lady, which by all rights deserves an Oscar. She's simply extraordinary playing Britain's prime minister in power and in old age. It's one of the most amazing feats of acting I've seen in years. As to the film itself, at times it's riveting, encapsulating a very volatile time that has lessons for us now. I despised her during her iron-fisted reign and wasn't sure I even wanted to watch this BUT I was hooked. AND there are laborious passages of her lost in dementia in her waning years - far too many of them - which expose the rigidity of her persona, her lack of flexibility and her unwillingness to compromise that led to her downfall. Interesting that the same fate befell Reagan.

I can see how the right wingers would hate it. Seeing their beloved leader lose the plot. Here we have the rise and fall of power and in its small way its epic. And as for Meryl, no one else comes close.