The Iron Lady Review

One of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2011. Meryl Streep takes the part of the longest serving Prime Minster, in an epic journey through the highs and lows of the most powerful lady in 1980's Britain.

The political movie of 2011 and one of the best biopics I've seen in my lifetime; mostly because this is the only one I can remember ever seeing. As you can already tell, I am indeed a fan of Meryl Streep's interpretation of the infamous Iron Lady.

In the Iron Lady, we view the elderly Margaret Thatcher fight her battle against dementia, and the flashbacks of the most powerful woman in British politics. With bits of her youth and her rise from the political outcast to the Prime Minster of Britain.

The story is part-present, part-past. The past scenes are opened up by scenes and sentences in the present, which take Margaret off into her past. The scene then expands from simple murmurs to show you what was going on at that time.

Meryl Streep goes from strength to strength in the film. Her adaptation of both the courageous, strong and powerful side of Thatcher and the small, lonely, lost side, which we see in her elderly years, is astonishingly well acted.

With Meryl being an American, I did hope that her adaptation on the Thatcher accent wouldn't be tad dissonant and gladly, my hope wasn't blind. She played a superb Thatcher, both in character and in voice, as did her younger self, which was acted by Alexandra Roach.

I believe my favourite actor in the movie is Jim Boradbent, who plays Margaret's loyal husband: Denis. Not only does Jim look a lot like the husband, but his kind comedy-take on the movie makes it a joy to watch.

The only problem with Jim is he does look very old compared to Denis' youth-actor, Harry Lloyd, who looks to be just parting from his early twenties. While Meryl can turn from forty to sixty in her character, I'm afraid Jim can't pull it off, and looks the same age in all scenes. This means, when Thatcher is forty, Denis looks more like her father than her lover.

I guess I cannot go through the cast without bringing up the magnificent Anthony Head, who's voice and skill in movies has been a pleasure for many years. He plays Thatchers right-hand, a place that needed a lot of skill to pull off. Anthony has a great way of "getting into character" in all his movies, while at the same time encompassing the same dishevelled British accent. In this, his accent really is needed for the part, and his performance is just excellent.

Olivia Colman plays a fine Carol Thatcher. Her essence of silliness and at times stupidity works perfectly with the character at hand. I've always loved Olivia in the peep show, and it's great to see her work on something a bit different.

Now, I could rant and rave over how much I wasn't pleased at the minor cast, but in a way, why would we need to. We hardly see them and they're not awful at what they do, they may just not match the great front-cast. Saying that, I really did dislike the way they portrayed the leaders of the Labour party as ranting madmen.

I find the story works quite well for a biopic. It doesn't delve too into a "Hollywood" style and it doesn't make for the greatest romance or comedy. It has mixtures of a lot of genres, but none quite bubble to the brim. I do thank the script writers for their great mixtures of both drama, comedy and romance within the story, and their slight twist of horror with Thatchers' dementia.

I would have loved to have seen more of Thatcher in Parliament, arguing her way through all her controversies. She was said to have been one of the strongest people to stand at the front of the Houses, and I just didn't see enough of her power inside to really tickle my taste-bud. Saying that, I did love the other scenes in her past. Her hard work to get to the place she's at and her loose relationship with her family.

There are two scenes of action within the movie. Both come from the IRA. The first is a car explosion - which was shown quite early in the movie. While the explosion itself was a very good scene, Meryl's reaction was a bit...bizarre. Not in the sense of what she done, but in how she done it.

I found the clips of the riots in the 1980's to be quite an eye-opener of Thatcher's opposition. While I've seen riots in my time, quite recently in London, they don't compare to the size or infuriation seen by both sides.

An amazing performance, a jolly good ride and a host of brilliant actors and actresses. With a good storyline which keeps you deep in the life of Margaret Thatcher, I would definitely permit my endorsement for you to watch this.