The Iron Lady

Yay for Boxing Day movies! Though I think we've gotten the short end of the stick in Oz this year - the new Sherlock Holmes flick and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo have been pushed back until after New Years. Bummer! I was supposed to see Tin Tin today but the bulb in the projector blew so my friend and I went to see this film instead and good golly we were so glad we did. 

The Iron Lady was directed by Phyllida Lloyd of Mamma Mia! fame which also starred Meryl Streep. The screenplay was written by Abi Morgan (The Hour). Seeing as this film takes place before the time that Tony Blair took office, Michael Sheen, alas, is nowhere to be seen.

Meryl "and the winner is" Streep *is* Margaret Thatcher, it's as simple as that. Maggie is old, her glory days, and her sanity so it seems, are far behind her. She is haunted by the ghost of her late husband Denis (Jim Broadbent - Hot Fuzz) who died eight years prior. She still has his clothes, she's not ready to give them up to charity just yet. He pops in every now and then for a drink, a dance, and some brekkie.

Maggie reflects on pivotal times in her life, the times that made her one of the most powerful women on the planet. A young Margaret Roberts (Alexandra Roach - Being Human) runs for parliament but fails the first time around. Her boyfriend, Denis (Harry Lloyd - Game of Thrones) proposes marriage. Maggie tells him straight that she will not be a domestic wife. Inspired by her father, Alfred (Iain Glen - Downton Abbey) Maggie runs again.

In the present, her daughter Carol (Olivia Colman - Hot Fuzz) is trying to get her mum to see a specialist,  but Maggie is off remembering the London riots, the war in the Falklands, IRA bombings, her time as Secretary of State for Education and Science, and Prime Minister - much more important stuff. She also takes us back to the decline of the Iron Lady, even though she helped bring an end to the Cold War, that just wasn't enough to keep her spot as Leader of the Conservative Party safe.

This is a truly remarkable film. I didn't know much about politics in the UK during the 80s, more concerned was I with horse riding and Bros. Morgan's screenplay manages to cram over five decades of Thatcher's life into this film but it doesn't seem rushed at all. Keep an eye out for Anthony Head (Buffy) as Geoffrey Howe and Richard E. Grant (Warlock) (yeah, I went there) as Michael Heseltine.

It is beautifully shot and Lloyd uses archive footage from real events throughout the film to great effect. The make-up job on Streep was so good it was hard to tell her from the real thing! The soundtrack was amazing with music from Bellini and songs from the band which probably best defines London in the 80s, The Sex Pistols.

Streep's performance is beyond belief. Seriously. If she doesn't get a few dozen little gold statues over the next award season I will be shocked. Unless of course, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp have a new film coming out... hmmph.

Things I learnt: important people have important hair; everyone on the roads are either reckless or terribly inept; if stuck in a crisis, for heaven's sake, save the butter!

Jolly good.
Nine out of ten.