THE IRON LADY – Review

Margaret Thatcher (The Iron Lady) is back, but only on our cinema screens in this case. Director Phyllida Lloyd brings you a revealing portrait of the one and only female British Prime Minister, played by Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep!

 

Starring:

Meryl Streep -Margaret Thatcher
Alexandra Roach – Margaret Thatcher (as a teenager)
Jim Broadbent – Denis Thatcher
Harry Lloyd – Young Denis Thatcher
Olivia Colman – Carol Thatcher
Anthony Head – Geoffrey Howe
Richard E. Grant – Michael Heseltine

 

Who can ever forget the reign of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher? If you needed something to help recap her moments in power then this movie will show you the moments of her reign and also her time after leaving Number 10.

 

The film is a biopic that also portrays the current illness (dementia) Mrs. Thatcher (Streep) is undergoing and how she is dealing with it. The illness causes her to hallucinate about her late husband Denis Thatcher (Broadbent), which makes her also remember the highs and lows of her career, and how she became a person with such authority from a simple chemist. This sets the tone for the movie.

 

 

From a young age growing up as a grocer’s daughter, the young Mrs. Thatcher (Roach) was always determined to make difference in the society and in the world. This determined spirit came from her father, Alfred Roberts, who was the Mayor of Grantham in the late 1940s.

While growing up she gets accepted to Oxford and then also meets young and successful business man called Denis Thatcher (Lloyd) whom she falls, in love with, weds and has twins with. The movie really portrays the part her husband played in her life in during her tough times after she became Prime Minister.

 

 

While remembering her highs and her lows, her daughter Carol (Colman) is quite worried about her and tries her best to be as of much support as possible to her mother.

 

‘The Iron Lady‘ is a good watch but maybe Phyllida Lloyd could have focused more on the actual life story of Mrs. Thatcher, rather than choosing the option of making her reflect on parts of her life, which in a sense takes a bit of the umph out of the movie.

 

Nevertheless, this is a must-see for biopic fans!

 

 
Review by: George Boateng

Explosive Media Group