The Iron Lady, which came
out in January 2012, was one of the highest anticipated movies of the year. Meryl
Streep, who plays Margaret Thatcher the first female Prime Minister of England,
embodied the former Prime Minister flawlessly. Although Streep would go on to
win an Oscar for her performance, it is too bad that her amazing portrayal could
not upgrade the movie as a whole. Feeling duped by the trailers, the movie
portrays a different side of Thatcher’s life. Most thought that the movie would
be about how Thatcher became Prime Minister and the importance of her being the
first female to hold that position in England. No one could have foreseen the
direction that director Phyllida Lloyd was going to take.
The movie starts with a
scene in a small English convenient store where an old woman is buying a carton
of milk. Underneath all the make-up you can slightly notice that the old woman
is Meryl Streep, but if you could not notice it, you might think that you
walked into the wrong movie. It takes about 5 or 10 minutes for you to realize
that one, you’re in the right movie theater, and two, that the movie is going
to be very different than you might have thought. The movie portrays a Margaret
Thatcher that is old, frail, and senile; bouncing back and forth from the
present to the past with hallucinations thrown in here and there. As the movie progresses you can kind of
understand how the movie will play out because most of the flashbacks involve
Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister.
However, the main focus
of the movie is more about Thatcher dealing with the death of her husband, who
makes frequent visits to her during the movie, and the lack of control that she
has over her life as an old woman. I didn’t see that portrayed in the movie
trailer, nor did I expect that to be the main focus of the movie. Although her flashbacks
mainly involve her time in Parliament, even they were connected to her husband
in some way. Yes you learn a little about her life but it focuses on the love
and loss that being Prime Minister brought to her family. What made her husband
fall in love with her was also the thing that tore them apart, her political
ambitions.
This movie makes you want
to travel to England and give Margret Thatcher a big hug. The movie wasn’t what
I thought it was going to be and although I think it would have been better as
a movie about her becoming Prime Minister, the movie was not as bad as most
people think it might be. It shows the very personal side of a once very
powerful and influential woman.
Being a history major I
had to write a review about the Iron Lady. The readings this week stressed the
importance of honesty and allowing one’s thoughts about a movie not overshadow
the movie itself. It is important when critiquing to explain how you feel about
something, just saying that you didn’t like something doesn’t suffice. As a
person who doesn’t really look at reviews for movies, the website Rotten
Tomatoes, just like the websites we dealt with about music reviews, allow
people to see multiple views on a movie instead of focusing on big name critics,
who, with The Iron Lady, didn’t enjoy the movie for what it was.
So as I saw the title of the movie of your review, I honestly had no idea of the movie you were going to talk about, so your critique/review came in quite handy. Plus I love Meryl Streep, and if I’m not mistaken I think she won an academy award for this movie, right? Ah, you write she won an Oscar. Thanks for the clarification. But I did like you didn’t give away specifics of the movie; in case any of us wanted to see it (you have piqued my interest, now I must go see it!) I agree with you, now that I’ve watched a trailer for the movie, I thought it would take more of a historical approach, showing what she accomplished while holding this position (or something along those lines) but you note that it deals more with her husband’s death. I think the point about the flashbacks are very important, as this is often a point in films where the audience gets confused about what’s going on and lose interest (yes, speaking from first-hand experience). It’s ironic, that she fell in love with her husband (and he with her) because of their love for politics, but yet it drives them apart as well. Do you think in today’s world politics also seem to drive couples apart? Or just certain aspects of politics?
ReplyDeleteI think you chose an excellent movie to write a review for, and I think your review lacked emotion but really stressed your honest opinion without being biased. You gave the reader an informative piece of the content of the film, and also what they could overall expect without giving away specifics. I enjoyed reading your review, and it confirmed my wanting to see the film myself with this new perspective in mind.
Thanks!
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSorry I deleted what I wrote above ... accident :(
DeleteWell, like I said before, thank you for the feedback and I hope that you see the movie, it really is good and Meryl, who is also one of my favorites (It's Complicated = best movie ever), is amaaaahhhhzing!
Getting to your question, no I do not think that specifically politics can cause problems for couples that are involved in politics. In the case of Margaret Thatcher and her husband, she had lost sight of what was really important in her life as she gained more power within Parliament, until she became Prime Minister, the highest honor. She put her civil duties above her family and at the end of the day, this is the sole reason for her marital problems. Throughout the movie you see the love the she and her husband have for eachother and how her ambition puts so much stress on the entire family. In this way I think that politics do affect couples within politics, especially those with families. When one parent or both are in the political spotlight, everyone else must conform with unanimous enthusiasm. As in the case with Margaret and her husband, I don't think politics drive couples apart but I do think that it puts added stress and strain to their relationship.
Thanks for the question!
Agreed, Megan. I think that if politics drove them apart, that separation came from the gender expectations placed on both, an interesting comment on the first female prime minister...
Deletedefinitely agree with you, it's complicated was AMAZING! You make some valid points about the role politics play in relationships, and it's hard having your partner (or both of the people) being in the headlines, the media scrutinizing their every move. The governmental world and it's politics are super tough and really intense. Is it weird that I can't wait to dive in?
DeleteHi Megan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for not spoiling the movie! Good point about being honest about why you liked or didn’t like a movie. This is important in the critical world because one person could love a movie and another person could hate it, but they could both agree that a given movie is structurally good, or was well-acted, etc. I appreciated the suggestions you had for the movie, as well as the praise. I agree with you that film sites such as rottentomatoes.com are interesting, and can help us make decisions about paying to see a movie or not. Did you get a chance to look up Iron Lady on rotten tomatoes?
Maria