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Iron Lady Review

What I liked: An interesting story telling approach. It was a good drama and period piece. The main take home I left with was doing great things requires great people with enormous resolve (often taking the form of annoying perfectionism) and willing to make great sacrifices. It seemed that everything she accomplished (from political position, to policy success, to political downfall) was the purely her force of will. I learned a lot about 1980s British history, though to be fair I didn’t know much so if this is your area you probably already know all about it. I really liked the scene when she is teaching her daughter to drive and may quote it frequently on the freeway. I was impressed with the way they handled her relationship with her husband; it succeeded in being touching and pointing out the strain that ambition and public office put on marriages. I liked the ending, admittedly it was anticlimactic and not great as endings go for a biography. What I liked about it was its framing in the film and the way it captured my attention for an inordinate amount of time for something extremely mundane, the director did a good job on that.
What I didn’t: I don’t think Thatcher would have liked to be presented this way and I think it did a disservice to her accomplishments to frame a biographical movie about her that mostly highlighted her difficult personality and declining mental capacity. As an interesting drama it was good, as a biography I couldn’t help thinking they didn’t consult her family on this and it focused disproportionately on her flaws at the cost of her accomplishments.
Who should watch this? Mom would probably like it, like I said it is a good drama so anyone looking for a slower, more thoughtful movie would appreciate it.
Would I watch it again? Maybe
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