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The Iron Lady

February 5, 2012 by · Comments Off on The Iron Lady 

The Iron Lady, Long reviled in Argentina for leading Britain to war over the Falkland Islands, Margaret Thatcher’s portrayal as a vulnerable, elderly woman suffering from dementia in new film “The Iron Lady” has won her newfound sympathy with Argentine moviegoers.

The Oscar-nominated film shows Thatcher, the 86-year-old former British prime minister, as a confused and lonely old woman remembering flashbacks of her divisive political career, and its release comes as diplomatic tensions over the Falklands are flaring anew.

“The image of the old woman makes me sad, it’s an image of the tremendous solitude that comes with power,” Alicia Fischer, a retired chemical industry worker said after seeing the film featuring Meryl Streep when it opened in Buenos Aires this weekend.

Argentina’s invasion of the British territory on April 2, 1982, is seen by most people here as a terrible mistake by the discredited military dictatorship in power at the time, but they also believe that the islands are rightfully part of Argentina.

Fischer said she will always see Britain as the enemy, but her perception of Thatcher changed after the film.

“You have to put yourself in her shoes,” Fischer said. “She did what she had to do for her country … At any rate, it’s not easy to be a stateswoman in a country like Britain.”

Thatcher broke gender and class barriers in her rise from humble beginnings as a grocer’s daughter to leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and then prime minister.

British Prime Minister David Cameron praised Streep’s acting but criticized the depiction of Thatcher as a frail, elderly woman and suggested the film should not have been made while she was still alive and suffering from dementia.

Gabriela Michetti, an Argentine opposition lawmaker, said the film humanizes Thatcher.

“It shows the contrast between her weakness and her firmness bordering on cruelty,” Michetti said as the credits went up. “You can see her youth, how much she fought against obstacles in a man’s world and as a grocer’s daughter … It’s the first time I see her this way.”

The audience at a packed Buenos Aires movie theater on Friday sat quietly transfixed by the film. The only murmurs came when Thatcher, in her trademark suit and power hairdo, orders the sinking of the battleship General Belgrano that killed 323 Argentine sailors in what was a turning point in the war.

The Iron Lady

December 9, 2011 by · Comments Off on The Iron Lady 

The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher: the mere mention of her name still provokes strong feelings.  Now the Iron Lady is back… not to the dominate the world stage, but the big screen. Hollywood star Meryl Streep sprinkles a touch of cinema magic on one of our most iconic and controversial political leaders, and the events that dominated her premiership.  But not everyone will be rushing to see The Iron Lady.

Inside a community centre at Arkwright in the former East Midlands coalfield, I showed selected scenes from the movie to some ex-Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire coal miners.  They didn’t need a movie to shape their memories of Margaret Thatcher. Their experience of the year long pit strike almost 30 years ago is still too raw.

“I don’t know whether it’s a science fiction film or a horror movie. It’s certainly not a documentary,” said former Derbyshire striking miner John Dunn.  Another former striking miner ‘Snowy Bradley’ winced when he saw Mrs Thatcher, as portrayed by Meryl Streep.

“The film seems to romanticise Thatcher and the events of those days.

“She was divisive and destroyed so many communities and jobs,” he told me.

From Arkwright, it’s 50 miles south to Margaret Thatcher’s home town of Grantham in South Lincolnshire.

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