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The Iron Lady

Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, and Richard E. Grant
Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd
Screenplay by: Abi Morgan

     Has Meryl Streep ever played a bad role?  Has she ever had a poor performance in a movie?  Certainly, not that I can remember.
     This is the story of Margaret Thatcher (extraordinarily well played by Meryl Streep), Britain's first female Prime Minister, and Britain's longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th century (from 1979-1990).  The film does not exactly focus on the highlights of her reign as Prime Minister, rather on the incredible challenges she faced in order to obtain such power.
     While the film may not portray Margaret Thatcher in the best of light, she is done justice by Streep's performance as her.  Streep delivers a nearly flawless performance, one most certainly worthy of an Oscar nod, and her recent Golden Globe win for this role.  While she is truly incredible in this film, I don't think it's exactly her finest performance ever, but it's tough to say what is her best performance ever.  She seems to be nominated for an Oscar or a Golden Globe for Best Actress every year she is in a movie.
      The make-up on her is awesome.  She plays a very old woman for the parts of the movie that take place during the present and she truly looks like an old woman in these parts.  I think this movie has the best make-up all year.
      The story seems to jump around quite a bit.  It focuses more on her personal life than on her political life.  It is told in flashback, and for much of the movie, we see Thatcher in her old age, clearly being rather delusional, seeing her husband, Denis Thatcher (Jim Broadbent), when he clearly is not present.  However, since about half of the movie is flashback to Thatcher's political life as Prime Minister, it's difficult to learn about Thatcher for someone like me who was not around at the time she was Prime Minister.  I was hoping to learn a lot about what she did as Prime Minister, and while I did learn about that through the movie, it seems that it's mostly her personal life we see.
       This is not a movie I would recommend to younger audiences, even to people my own age.  You'll be able to appreciate the movie more if you remember hearing about these events when they happened.  The film also seems to drag on for a lot longer than the run time says it is.  It's just under two hours long, but it feels like it's a two and a half hour movie, and at some parts, it can get pretty boring.  Overall, it's not my favorite movie of the year, but I do believe that it should be nominated for the Oscars for Best Actress (I have no doubt Meryl Streep will be nominated), Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent), and Best Make-up.  These are the three areas that are the most noteworthy from this film.  This isn't my favorite film of the year, but I will say that it's worth seeing while it's in theaters.
       I give The Iron Lady a B+.

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