Hello to everyone out there on the internet! I prefer to be called TheCinemaChick and I still love to watch movies. My birthday has passed, but I still managed to have three celebrations in three days. The final celebration resulted in seeing a very good, very powerful film, The Iron Lady. So, Fry and Butterfly joined me for this movie which has already been very successful. Meryl Streep won a well deserved Golden Globe for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. I’m even saying her performance is Oscar worthy, which is refreshing change from the bland movies I’ve seen this year so far.
Now, I know very little of British politics. That reason alone made the movie a little dull for me. I’m not into politics and history, but this movie isn’t really about either of those. They are touched on, but not the main focus. What The Iron Lady is, is a marvelous look at Margaret Thatcher’s life. It doesn’t mean to glorify her nor does it cast her in a negative light. Rather, it gives her a very human light. By that I mean we get a look at her now, as a frail elderly woman who suffers from dementia but left a major impact in the world. The film is slow, quiet and has very little action, but it’s absolutely brilliant.
Ladies and gentleman, this is the first film I have seen in 2012 that I would highly recommend you see. It’s breathtaking, it makes you laugh and it might just make you shed a tear. It’s cinematic perfection and this movie is why I do this. I want to seek out the masterpieces among the mediocre. Yes, most of us go to the movies in order to seek out some form of escape or to be entertained. I understand that completely. I didn’t expect to walk out of this and praise it as much as I am.
While the movie isn’t a straight biography, it still manages to cover a good chunk of her life. It shows her humble beginnings and her rise to power. Sadly, it doesn’t cover much inbetween. I didn’t get a good sense of who she was outside the public eye. There is very little about her personal life, other than showing tension between her and her husband, who is played by Jim Broadbent. You’ve most likely seen this man before, as Professor Horace Slughorn. He’s brilliant as Dennis, who is either in the flashback or playing a figment of Margaret’s mind.
What I loved most about this film is that it gave me a realistic view of a person with dementia. I’ve experienced it in my lifetime, because my grandmother had it and I wasn’t allowed to see her when she hit rock bottom. After seeing “The Iron Lady”, I have a better idea of what my grandmother went through. It’s rather heartbreaking to think that there is no cure for this, so when people are diagnosed with dementia, it’s a slow decline into forgetfulness.
With that in mind, the movie is emotional. You learn just how hard she worked and just how much she sacrificed in order to make history. The movie even opens on a depressing tone. It’s just Margaret buying milk, but no one knows who she is. It’s like she was never the Prime Minister. The next scene is in the kitchen with her and Dennis having breakfast. This is where we learn Dennis passed away years before but her mental state is so fragile that she truly believes he is still alive. Towards the end, she finally accepts the truth and kicks him out, which is her admitting to herself that her husband is indeed dead. When this happened, I got a little teary eyed. The emotions are so high and intense that I was surprised to realize I was getting swept up. I didn’t weep like I did with 50/50 or even Harry Potter, but I was still emotional.
The only downside is that the movie did indeed feel very long. The lack of action and plot twists make the film seem much longer than it actually is. I was sucked in relatively fast but that didn’t help. There were still a few times where I found my mind wandering. Another thing that bothered me is the constant switching back and forth between present and past. Sometimes the transitions worked really well, other times I would be watching something from her past with no warning then be back in the present. I suppose I could interpret that as “this is how a person with dementia might see the world” and be fine with it. That’s not a bad idea, so let’s go with that
“The Iron Lady” is a strong Oscar contender. Meryl Streep is unrecognizable as the elderly Thatcher and her portrayal of the former Prime Minister is nearly flawless. In fact, Streep has already won a Golden Globe for her performance. She does deserve a nomination for this movie, but there are some serious contenders out there. My favorite scene is where she is given an image makeover and is told to stop wearing her pearl necklace. She agrees to everything and in a very serious voice adds, "The pearls are not negotiable." I laughed, thinking how the necklace does appear throughout the entire movie.
I think this movie is worth seeing but because it’s slow and a tad bit disorganized (though fully intentional) it is still an incredible film. It’s just amazing. I would shoot for a matinee though because it isn’t my absolute favorite movie this year. To my surprise, I may have actually already seen my number one film of 2012 and it’s only January. I’ll touch on that one again in…three more blogs. This is the first of four that I’m working on. Yes, I am extremely behind right now. I still have to review “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”, “The Artist”, and “Underworld Awakening”. Guess which one I didn’t like.
I’m TheCinemaChick and I’m a little bit bummed out today.
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