I have a friend, an author, who is a huge film buff and he’s
stated clearly that as well acted and directed as he is sure this film will be,
he “...won't be touching with a barge pole”. He won’t be alone in this. Whilst
the trailer is very, very careful to juxtapose any commentary or scenes
depicting Margaret Thatcher as string, decisive or mildly heroic, with images
of the pain and misery many British people clearly thought she inflected on
them.
 |
| One of many clashes between the protesting "workers" of Britain and Thatcher's police. |
There’s a real problem here, the cold, logical facts are
that becoming the first female leader of a country as important as Britain, and
a Conservative one at that, is no mean feat. There are many remarkable
achievements and pointers to her strength and determination, not to mention a
genuine belief in her ideology. The trouble is that her ideology went very much
against the “common man” and is clearly seen as aiding only the rich, and offering
encouragement to those who aspired to be rich, at the expense of the poor people
who did “the hard graft”. Her term in charge corresponded with a massive shift
in the working environment as many traditional industries became all but
extinct (Coal mining etc.) leading to public disturbances; race riots and more.
Her handling of issues like Apartheid in South Africa didn’t earn her many
friends either.
 |
| The Falklands..."I want them back!" |
Synopsis...
“THE IRON LADY is a surprising and intimate portrait of
Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the first and only female Prime Minister of
The United Kingdom. One of the 20th century's most famous and influential
women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class
to be heard in a male dominated world.”
So will the great British public put aside their historical antipathy
to Mrs Thatch? Does any of that matter
to “foreign” audiences who, let’s be
honest, most likely see the positive side of her achievements and remain
largely unaware of just how much the average Brit didn’t like her. Then again
she was elected Prime Minister 3 times in a row, however much that was helped
by the woeful state of the opposition at
the time (Labour, dear oh dear) so there were plenty that loved what she was
doing. Of course her ousting, by her own party, suggests that even amongst those
who were for her, there were many who didn’t really like her.
For those that don’t know this epic poem it is to the tune
of the old ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ TV show. You can hear that below...
“Maggie thatch, Maggie thatch, riding through the glen.
Maggie thatch, Maggie thatch, with her merry men.
Steals from the poor, to give to the rich!
What a bitch! What a bitch! What a bitch!”
The Iron Lady is without a doubt one of the most influential
people of the 20th century and that shouldn’t be forgotten.
No comments:
Post a Comment