I didn't see The Iron Lady, so maybe there's a cultural disconnect here

[cthulu2016]

To me, Thatcher is a punchline. A truly detestable nut-right politician... Britain's answer to Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan.

Contemptible and yeah... evil. But I'm old. I remember her in action and she was like a freaking James Bond villain... really, as nasty an article as one could want.

I have been perplexed by the overall tone of reaction to the Baroness' passing and it belatedly occurred to me that a lot of the contemporary sense of her may be informed by the Meryl Streep movie from 2 years ago, which I've only seen about two minutes of.

I know that a lot of my sense of historical figures comes from films. And fair enough--biopics are not nessecarily less real than newspapers or books. It depends on the instance.

What is the take-away from the Thatcher film? Is it ambivalent... one of those "fair" biopics presenting both sides?

[applegrove]

1. I tried to watch the movie but dislike

her so much even Meryl Streep couldn't make it worthwhile.

[joeybee12]

2. I don't watch Meryl Streep movies...she's hammy and dishonest...

But I did see something about Meryl stating yesterday that Maggie opened the doors for women, which is a load of horseshit...Morrisey got it right by syaing she was so bad she closed the doors to women.

[brett_jv]

5. Hammy? She's fairly universally acknowledged as one of the greatest actors of all time ...

If not THE GREATEST ... you find her 'hammy'?

She was absolutely stunning in The Iron Lady. Like, jaw-droppingly, awe-inspiringly good.

The movie itself was a bit odd, and kind-of boring, frankly. It was pretty much the epitome of a 'star-vehicle', and it did not 'play-up the negative side' to Maggies positions and policies. Much of it takes place long after she's left office, and portrays her as a dawdling old woman who hallucinates that her dead husband is constantly around her, giving her advice and such.

I wouldn't say it made her a sympathetic character, but it was not at ALL a 'hit-piece' I didn't think. Not as much so as, say, that movie where Josh Brolin played GWB. They more or less just show what side she was on re: a few of the issues of the day, without any real 'editorializing' (not even w/like ominous music or the other subtle tools filmmakers use to make you 'feel' ... how they think you should feel). It does a good job of letting you make up your own mind, you might say.

[BainsBane]

6. She's an astounding actress

And transformed herself into Thatcher. Hammy is the last thing Streep is.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Yes, I'd say the film did present both sides, but isn't that influential

Yes, she was "Britain's answer to .. Ronald Reagan" (even if she came to power first, unless you count Reagan's California governorship; no, she's not as much of a joke as Gingrich).

When you talk about "the overall tone of reaction", do you mean the tone on DU? In the American media? In the British media, or in Britain? The reactions I've seen are pretty much what I'd have expected, and no different from before The Iron Lady came out. Thatcher has stayed ridiculously popular in right wing circles, so what they say isn't surprising. The media sticks to the "don't speak ill of the (recently) dead" rule for anyone not already marked as an 'Enemy of the Status Quo' (eg Chavez). And many people also go for that too. It's an individual decision on how important that is for you.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. I highly recommend The Iron Lady, Chris Matthews thought it was a hatchet job biased against Mags

It is more than a point by point bio pic, the screenplay has some elements that I'd say are more usual in biographic plays in legitimate theater than in cinema. A bit of Lear on the heath to it all.
The American media condenses her to 'Ronnie's Pal' and 'First Woman PM of the UK' in part because most Americans do not know much about her tenure, her racism, classism, Union busting heartlessness. Which they would know about had they seen Iron Lady. It is more a function of her being long out of the public eye and only vaguely part of the American cultural memory in the first place. How many Americans could name the current PM? Most only know Blair via Bush, and again only vaguely understand his own particular crimes and have no sense of the man's other doings, for good or for bad.
I spent a fair amount of time in the UK during her era and I hold her in great contempt for very specific reasons. The film was just fine in my book.

[CBHagman]

7. I couldn't stand Margaret Thatcher but saw the film...

...partly because I like politically themed movies and partly because I admire Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent (and the rest of the cast isn't shabby, either). For what it's worth, The Iron Lady annoyed progressives because it was too compassionate with the former prime minister and Thatcher supporters because it was insufficiently reverent. Make of that what you will.

One warning: As the film deals with Thatcher's physical decline, it can be hard viewing for people for whom that situation hits too close to home.

I do recommend many of the films set in the Thatcher era with working-class heroes -- Brassed Off! and Billy Elliot. Also recommended: Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole novels and the TV series from the 1980s.