What an American national treasure is Meryl Streep. Now Britain can claim her, too,
thanks to her bravura, touching performance in “Iron Lady” as former British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher.
That nickname was given to Mrs. Thatcher by Soviet leader Mikhail Gobachev in
grudging admiration of her courage and tenacity.
Director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan did not want to do a standard
success-story biography about the rise of a grocer’s daughter to one of the most powerful
women in the world. Rather, Mrs. Thatcher is depicted in the present as a physically and
mentally fragile woman reflecting on past glories.
Mrs. Thatcher is in fact still alive, but she has been out of the public eye for the past ten
years. She suffered a series of strokes, and in 2008 her daughter revealed she is suffering
from dementia.
It is ironic that one of Mrs. Thatcher’s best friends, American President Ronald Reagan,
also suffered from dementia.
Like Reagan, Mrs. Thatcher was a right-wing conservative, with a hard line on
Communism and welfare and a friendly eye for business and free enterprise. “Iron
Lady” spans the 17 days that led to the 1982 British invasion of the British colony of
the Falkland Islands off the coast of Argentina. Evidently, the Argentine powers-that-
be felt the British Lion had gone toothless. They were wrong, setting the stage for Mrs.
Thatcher’s finest hour and a resurgence of British national pride.
“Iron Lady’ does not dwell on politics as much as it focuses on one woman’s struggles
in a male-dominated world, and her very deep love for Denis Thatcher, her helpmate and
husband for more than 50 years.
Mr. Thatcher is portrayed with great dignity by the fine British actor Jim Broadbent. It
is clear that Denis never played second fiddle to his famous wife, but was unfailingly
supportive of her every ambition.
It is almost a given that Meryl Streep will be nominated for an Academy Award for her
uncanny ability not only to resemble but to crawl into the skin and absorb the soul of a
character. What I think is more important about “Iron Lady” is that it humanizes an often-
reviled, easily caricatured figure. For that, Meryl Streep has done the citizens of Great
Britain a great favor.
Four stars