The Iron Lady

The deposition of Margaret Thatcher was one of the earliest political events that I can remember. Even now, two decades on, her name still sparks furious debate between those who were destroyed by her policies and those who benefitted from them.

My interest in this film is solely down to the fact that Thatcher was the first female leader of any country in the western world which was an extraordinary achievement at the time. I was also interested in how her downfall came about.

The film is set in present day, featuring a frail Thatcher (Meryl Streep) who is suffering from dementia and hallucinations about her late husband Denis (Jim Broadbent). Each hallucination brings a flashback and it is through these flashbacks that various events are portrayed starting from Thatcher's childhood up to when she resigned as Prime Minister.

The main events that are covered include her path to becoming Prime Minister, the Falklands War, the Brighton bomb and Thatcher's relationship with Europe.

First of all, I have to commend Streep's performance. There are generally three things that make Thatcher recognisable, the first being the hair, the second being her bags and the third, and most importantly, being her distinctive voice. Streep absolutely nailed the voice and the performance was very realistic. Likewise, Broadbent did a great job as Denis Thatcher and Olivia Colman was also excellent playing Carol, Thatcher's daughter.

My main problem with this film is that it focused too much on the decline of Thatcher, too much on the dementia that she suffers from. I would have preferred a straight biopic, telling me more about why Thatcher made the decisions she did and I especially would have liked to have learnt more about her downfall. Any remotely interesting elements or events were heavily glossed over and there was very little explanation or probing into why certain things happened.

Verdict: More about how this woman became Prime Minister and how she was deposed would have made for a much more interesting film. The cast were superb, just let down by a weak script and in my opinion, a very questionable structure and a real lack of bite and intention.

I'm not angry, just very disappointed.