The Iron Lady - She Knew She Deserved It.

(Meryl Streep in the Iron Lady)
(2011) ★★★★☆

What I know about Mrs Thatcher is that she’s the first female British Prime Minister and that she tripped and fell over outside The Great Hall Of The People after the talk about Hong Kong with Deng Xiaoping. Obviously she wasn’t watching her step, because she was annoyed, disappointed, intimidated or whatever. I guess she for the first time had come across something she wouldn’t be able to change. Of course this film tells a lot more than I know about her. If interested in knowing what I mean ‘a lot more’, ‘The Iron Lady’ is a very nice choice to check out.

It’s very well paced, told and edited using flashbacks and documentary clips. And I believe Meryl Streep is the one and only lady on Earth suitable for this role. She’s absolutely fabulous at interpreting such a difficult character. No wonder she grabbed this year’s Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role, the third in her career. She talks like Mrs Thatcher. She walks like Mrs Thatcher. She’s every inch a Mrs Thatcher. Her performance is so professional and convincing that you wouldn’t want to miss any part of it. She’s simply amazing. The director, Phyllida Lloyd herself is certainly part of the reasons why it’s a success. You know a biographical film about a political figure could be rather long and boring, but this film’s short and mesmerizing. It almost made me shed a tear seeing such a lonely, aging but strong lady!

There’re great speeches delivered by Mrs Thatcher in the film. This is the one I remember, ‘One’s life must matter. It must be beyond the washing, the cleaning and the children.’ Well, I only agree with the first part. I believe this is a so-called free world, and you’re free to do anything as long as you dare, but every action and reaction has its karma, and every choice has its price. Nothing’s perfect. Nothing’s better than anything. Mrs Thatcher chose to devote her life to changing the world, so she couldn’t possibly be a good mother or a husband. In order to ensure the future and dignity of the country, she inevitably had to hurt someone. To some, she might be a great person to look up to, but some might just want to spit at her. If what this film says about her is true, I’ll have to admire her, since she really was doing the job for the sake of the country and its people instead of gaining popularity and being able to win the elections.

Mrs Thatcher served as Prime Minister for more than 10 years. She’s truly a political legend. The opening of the film, however, reminds us of the fact that no matter how great you think you are, when your glory’s done, you’ll be nothing but an ordinary being and soon be forgotten entirely. Trust me, the glory doesn’t last long at all. Mrs Thatcher has paid her price for being great, once. Maybe she’s still suffering from her hallucinations. She seemed to be finally letting her dead beloved husband go, but she really wasn’t quite able. Then her husband said to her, ‘You’ll be fine on your own. You’ve always been’. I guess that’s a compliment as well as an irony.