The Iron Lady

Hey... Jobs... Jobs! Long Walk to Freedom... Long Walk to Freedom! THIS is how you do a biopic.

Now I feel like I may be putting this movie at a slight advantage because honestly, I don't know that much about Margret Thatcher. I don't know the intricacies of her life and I was watching the movie not knowing exactly how its going to end. I had a general idea but nothing specific whereas I knew the life stories of Steve Jobs and Nelson Mandela pretty thoroughly prior to watching their biopic. So I guess that's a disclaimer.

But that doesn't put aside the fact that this movie is just done a lot better.

And believe it or not, this is the same director who did Mamma Mia... The same director who did that god awful piece of garbage Mamma Mia directed this really really well done film. Now I don't think I've ever critiqued Mamma Mia on the way it was directed, its just a bad film. But then that woman makes this film? Wow, I'm impressed. Can we give Phyllida Lloyd more work please?

Okay, taking a step back for a second (I literally just finished the movie so I need to gather my thoughts and give a fair and balanced review).

The Iron Lady is a biopic on the life of Margaret Thatcher (played by Meryl Streep), the former and first female Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Where to start with this movie because right off the bat they get a lot of things right.

First off, they begin the story near the end of Margret Thatcher's life. I don't know exactly how old she is but she looks pretty old whenever they flash forward to her older years.

Point is, she's old. She needs to some assistance with her living situation and all the while she's having hallucinations of her dead husband (played by Jim Broadbent).

This setting serves as a jumping off point as she looks back on her life all the while deciding what she's going to do about these hallucinations that she knows aren't real but she can't quite let go of yet.

I could see this screenplay playing out just as well on a stage as I can on film, it plays out, not like a Shakespearean play, but a play nonetheless and with a background in theater, I love this approach.

But anyway, the flashbacks begin when Margaret is young. Growing up in Grantham, idolizing her political father, you understand her background and you understand why her political beliefs shaped the way they did.

By the Way, I don't know who this Alexandra Roach is but I was impressed with her performance. I almost wanted to see her on screen more despite knowing that eventually the film would transition to Streep but I was perfectly content seeing this actress go for a while.

While the beginning is streamlined a bit, it focused on the parts that seemed important and didn't waste time with Margret Thatcher in a wheat field dropping acid or something like that... (I really didn't like that scene from Jobs).

It didn't need a montage, it showed the highlights of her life and then moved onto the more important parts which include her being proposed to by her husband Dennis and being elected to Parliament.

Everything that happened here fed into the story and helped develop the character.

So the first act is her younger years and her getting into politics and where those conservative beliefs that Thatcher is known so well were formed.

The second act is her rise to power and the changes that she had to make to her self and the sacrifices she had to make in order to get to that point.

All the while the story is being helped along by flash forwards to her dealing with the ghost of her husband and both of them reacting to these flashbacks.

Funny note: In the past five years we've had two critically acclaimed films, this one and The King's Speech, and both of them have focused on high ranking British officials and both of them had them in voice lessons trying to learn to speak in a more commanding voice.

I think that's funny and interesting at the same time.

But the transformation she goes through from polite but fiery housewife looking Margret Thatcher to the Margret Thatcher we know from history is actually really interesting.

The third act is really her rise and fall (and technically another rise and fall) of her time as Prime Minister.

And honestly, this is the stuff that gets really good. It really puts a human face on a woman who many believed was just a conservative with no heart for the people when really all she wanted to do was do what she thought was right. And this is where this movie does it right because a good movie builds on itself. And everything that has come before this third act builds on itself. Friendships, rivalries, beliefs, convictions, relationships, they all come to the tipping point in this last act.

But the more important part of it all is that this story is not so much a story about Margaret Thatcher as a Prime Minister, is more about her as a woman.

Now I've read some things about this film criticizing it for not really having a stance on whether or not it agrees with Thatcher or thinks she's just a crazy old woman by the end of it. But I saw it more as a personal story. And with the performance of Streep, it puts the movie far ahead of any political drama. While the story mainly follows Thatcher through her rise to power, the underlying point of this movie is dissecting her as a person. What a career like this can do to a woman who by all standards of the day, should have just stayed at home and not gotten into this boys club in the first place.

With the exception of her daughter and her living assistant... I can't really think of any other women in this film. Its a monstrous story and as far as biopics go, I thought it did a pretty good job.

Now, of course, a lot of the credit goes to Meryl Streep. Streep absolutely kills this role. Let's be honest, I'm probably never going to watch this movie again but there's a possibility, with more time, I might rethink the actual merits of the movie itself. But I know that I will not rethink the performance by Streep because it is really fantastic.

And that's why I had to compliment Roach's performance as well because it flows so well together. And the great part is, its not like Roach is doing her best to do a Streep performance, they're both working in tandem to create the best representation of Margret Thatcher.

Streep does have a talent for making me forget that its her and while I think some of Streep's performances are a little bit overrated, I do have to hand it to her on this one, she just kills it as Margret Thatcher.

Now, again, I can't speak to the historical accuracy of this movie, just like I couldn't really speak to the historical accuracy of the Jobs movie. However, what I can say is that with the direction of the film, the performance of Streep, The Iron Lady is a good film. A lot of this is in direct comparison to Jobs because that is an example of a biopic that is a mess while this movie is structured a lot better and has a lot more going for it. It had a three act structure that built upon itself, it had solid performances, and it had a culminating climax that I even had struggles keeping my eyes dry for.

Is it a masterpiece, I don't think so. Even now I can understand the complaints people may of had with the movie. But if for anything, you can definitely enjoy a great Meryl Streep performance and learn a little bit about Margret Thatcher in the process.

But those are my thoughts on The Iron Lady. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts to me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. I will make them my priority. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on movie news and reviews from this blog.

I'll leave you with this. It was a little hard to find something funny to put at the end of this review because honestly, when you look at Meryl Streep's career... she's not really that funny. Great actress, not really funny. But here's Christina Applegate doing that for her. Enjoy!