Film File - The Iron Lady

If you're old enough to remember Margaret Thatcher as the UK prime minister during the 1980s, she will, doubtless, have left an impression. To some, it is an ugly image of an uncaring despot sticking rigidly to an ultra-conservative agenda; to others, she was a fearless female leading the charge through a male-dominated, political glass ceiling. Young Margaret Thatcher (Alexandra Roach) entered politics as a Conservative MP for Finchley in the late 1950s as a headstrong and driven young woman, brought up with a strong code of ethics by her grocer father, Alfred Roberts (Iain Glen). In 1975, the mature Thatcher (Meryl Streep) grasps her chance for political greatness by exploiting the lack of leadership in the Conservative Party and successfully stands against Edward Heath (John Sessions) for the party's top position - and four years later wins the election to become Britain's prime minister. Determined to cut government spending and break the power of the unions, Maggie - as she was instantly christened by the 'red tops' - started as she meant to continue by fighting not just the outdated political establishment, but much of the country's workforce in pushing through laws that divided the nation. In the course of her time as PM, she also took the country to war against Argentina after the Falklands Islands were invaded - and built further on her reputation as The Iron Lady, a title given to her by a scornful Russian press, but which she took as a compliment. Battling on all fronts in her public life and finding herself regularly at odds with sections of her own party, led by Michael Heseltine (Richard E Grant), her private life delivered her a constant ally in her resolute, but almost invisible, husband Denis (Jim Broadbent), whose gin and tonic image was exploited in the long-running Dear Jim column in Private Eye. The film opens in the present day, with Thatcher as a confused and distressed 85-year old gripped by dementia. Wandering around her Chester Square home in London and often evading her team of carers to wander down to the local shop - "Milk's gone up again!" - before settling into breakfast in the company of her husband. But Denis is dead, though he remains her confidante through the fog of Alzheimer's as she relives the key moments of her life and her path to the highest office in the land. These early scenes detailing her mental descent from ultra-capable leader to someone diminished by disease and infirmity have caused much controversy by those who knew her, including her one-time adversary, Heseltine. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, who also worked with Streep on the popular hit, 'Mamma Mia!', the film is largely a trek through the highs and lows of Thatcher's career from humble beginnings to 10 Downing Street. Becoming the first and only female prime minister of the United Kingdom, she dominated the Conservative Party and led the country through a number of major financial crises, the miners' strike of 1983 and a war with the IRA - including the Brighton bombing that almost killed her. With a superb feel for the culture and mores of the period, Streep as Thatcher is virtually perfect, and pretty much what cinema audiences have now come to expect from the multiple Oscar winner. Not only does the actress perfectly mimic Thatcher's facial tics and turns, but inhabits her movement, posture and, most effectively, the vocal tones as they morphed from the early career nasal intonations to the no-nonsense growl as the fearsome occupant of No 10. With make-up and hair perfectly coiffed, Streep delivers one of the standout female performances of the year, and will surely be amongst the bookies' favourites for an Oscar at the Academy Awards in February. Scripted by Abi Morgan, who also wrote the Golden Globe-nominated 'Shame' with Michael Fassbander, 'The Iron Lady' is an interesting story about power and the difficult proposition it was for a woman to rise to the top during the 1970s. Where the film is most effective is in the charting of Thatcher's early decline into dementia, with small mishaps such as signing a book with her maiden name the signpost to her gathering mental confusion. And while much of the film is obviously concerned with her more famous political moments, it is the human side of the woman that leaves the deepest impression.