When you're married, you have to cut deals. So, yesterday I agreed to see "Iron Lady" with my husband. He had good reasons for wanting to see it: Meryl Streep, Meryl Streep, Meryl Streep. I was hesitant, because the reviews were lousy and I am not an admirer of Lady Thatcher, Britain or Conservatives. In fact, I am delighted Scotland is considering ceeceding from Britain. I am Scottish and have that rebel attitude. But I went, because I love the man. Let us say, the reviews were accurate. Yes, Streep nails the voice and persona. But the movie transforms into an anti-feminist bashing of Thatcher that is undignified and downright ugly. They would never dare make a film of Ronald Reagan from the point of view of HIS dementia. Yet this movie is framed completely by her deterioration. You get no sense of any charisma or warmth she may have had. You cannot understand what she stood for and what her accomplishments might have been. She seems branded as a terrible wife and mother, yet you don't see that either, it is lazily implied. You don't weep for her, you don't even care. For Americans watching the movie we needed some more background and history. But no, I guess the film is exclusively for the Brits. And here is the heresy: I don't think Streep deserves the Oscar for this movie. She's too stiff, confused or stubborn. She doesn't seem human. There is no way to engage with her character at all. The explosions and missing son just don't cut it. They are sloppy devices for a badly written and directed film. Ironically, the director is a woman, and she has done more harm to women and their rightful desires for connection to the political world than all the misogynists ever might have. Streep should have held out for a better script and refused to act in such a travesty.
There. Now I'm done with my rant. And by the way, my husband agrees as well. He had no pleasure in learning nothing about an historical figure and seeing women's rightful desire for the political forum set back by this movie.
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