I was surprised by how quiet the film felt, how The Iron Lady remained relatively silent about so many issues surrounding such a forceful and compelling woman.
A good film, emotional, as much about its subject as it is about Meryl Streep's moving portrayal of Margaret Thatcher.
Perhaps too obvious as I shake my head in endless admiration, regarding both the actress and politician: "What a woman!"
Streep is so technically brilliant it's impossible to deny her emotional insistence, her adroit ability of imposing a layer of warmth and meaning upon a woman intent on ideas, on change, on making her mark when women played such a minor role in political life.
I remember Thatcher's era, having lived in London in the mid 80's. I may have lived less than a year but my time was filled with intense memories and events unfolding almost daily.
I had little clue let alone focus on my future, fantasizing about becoming a playwright after studying at the University of London for a semester, interning at a fringe theatre in east London. It was insanely fun and eerily stark at the same time; I was not only living with a card carrying labor party member and activist, a man known today as much for his mind as his acting ability, but I was surrounded by one very colorful and illustrious theatrical crowd. And yes, they almost all loathed Margaret Thatcher.
I was an outsider but Maggie was BFF with Ronnie the debt Prez. It was easy to agree. It was a turbulent time, it wasn't that unusual to have a bomb go off just blocks from where you stood. Such drama. Not only in love but for a very brief spell I worked as a bar wench in a pub called The King and Keys on Fleet Street. I served shandy's and G&T's in large goblets to a diverse clientele; some men wore bowler hats and wrote me lovely villanelles, other men working class, asking that I join their strikes, some of which turned violent. And no, I dinnit, no, not nearly as adventurous back then...but London's survival seemed to hang in the balance.
So many startling images for mine eyes and ears, like Spitting Image, amazed at the level of bold satire, puppets of Maggie and Ronald Reagan canoodling, it seemed surreal. Up to that point my life had been so protected, safe and securely middle class. I assumed England had its own...
Thatcher may not have engendered love or even affection but what she did do was create a nouveau riche class that hadn't existed before.
In the early 80's, journalists and the chattering classes were discussing Britain's end; a dinosaur they said, in complete disarray.
So, Thatcher imposed structural change in a massively disruptive fashion. Did she ruin the northeast, were those miners meant to take the most vile of medicine, could they have benefited by meeting her in the middle, was that ever an option with her?
One can argue on many levels but one cannot argue this; Thatcher created a class of bankers, property owners, an entire new middle class that hadn't existed before. I know some personally; grateful and aware their lives a by-product of Thatcher's government.
Maggie introduced the notion of profit. She introduced new ideas, she created major havoc, a conviction style politician.
Clinton, Blair, Sarkozy, etc, all followers in her conviction style, they talk; she did. For better or worse, she did.
How well do her ideas stand today, are they at the root of Britain's present conundrum, will their precious pound stand alone. Do you really think they deserve a triple A rating and Austria not? Does anyone in a sane world think Austria has less chance of repaying their debt? Really?
Oh well, it's a wacky world, so random, the financial market so terrifically fickle and driven by their own manufactured drama, filled to the brim with financial terrorism.
What we do know is the English are renown for their cunning and more importantly, for their humour, the funniest people on the planet..speaking of, few are looking as forward to the Eddie the Eagle moments due for arrival at the 2012 Olympics, enough material to write a dozen blessays at least. Cannot wait...
However, regarding Thatcher, and of course, regarding the acting ability of our beloved Meryl Streep, I stand back, in honour and gush to both, "What a woman!"
