Movie Review - "The Iron Lady"

My British friend and I decided to go to the movies and ended up seeing "The Iron Lady". I was expecting to see a movie highlighting the political achievements of Margaret Thatcher but saw a movie with little substance. "The Iron Lady" stars Meryl Streep as the present Thatcher in her 80's who reflects back on her life as a prime minister. The present day Thatcher also spends a good bit of the movie talking to her late husband Denis. Some of the best scenes in the movies are during her early years in parliament when she's sitting in a room full of men. They were a few scenes of empowerment, and I had wanted to see more of them throughout the movie. The scenes of her political career were short and should have been longer with more dept.

The movie started out with present day Margaret Thatcher buying milk by herself in a convenience store. She complains about the price of milk. This probably wasn't the best way to start out the movie, but it did a good job in pointing out the fact that she was born and raised a farmers daughter. At this point it's not yet revealed that her husband is in fact dead, but towards the end of the scene the viewer sees that the other chair is in fact empty. It took me about twenty minutes to figure out what was going on, but I didn't know anything about Thatcher's personal life beforehand. Denis Thatcher is played by Jim Broadbent who does a fabulous job depicting the clownish husband who was deeply in love with his wife.

The movie did a good job humanizing Thatcher which is something I didn't expect. She is seen as a mother who loves and misses her children and has a hard time letting go of her deceased husband. She is seen as a women who wants more out of life then being a wife and mother, she wants to serve he country. The movie ends with the octogenarian walking around her home by herself. I left the movie theater dissatisfied and wanting more. As for my friend, she liked the movie and even remembers some of the events since she was living in Britain at the time. I agree with her comment that it was brave of the filmmakers and cast to make the movie while Thatcher is still alive. I can't imagine the real life Margaret Thatcher being too pleased with this movie.