The Iron Lady

  On Saturday I took my daughter to see The Iron Lady, at her request.

Ordinarily, a movie like this wouldn’t be on her radar, but we were watching Dr. Who on BBC America and after that was a ‘Making Of’ special that caught her attention. I’m not nearly well-informed enough about British politics to have an intelligent opinion on Thatcher, but when my daughter says she wants to see a movie about a woman running a country, we’re going.

To top it off, she needed some one-on-one mom time, so our fate for Saturday was sealed.

I wouldn’t say this movie is appropriate for all 8-year-olds, but she’s our youngest and with three older brothers she’s already seen her share of material inappropriate to her age. The war and rioting footage in this movie was no worse than she’s seen when her brothers are watching TV. My best guess is that a 10-year-old who watches the nightly news would be prepared for this movie. And, I almost forgot, there is a brief glimpse of a topless woman in some news footage. This was fine for my daughter to see, but you’ll have to make up your own mind on that one.

As for me, the more normal a strong, powerful woman seems to my daughter, the better.

The reason this movie held her attention is that it focused enough on Thatcher’s personal life that she was never bored by the political scenes.

Here’s a mini-interview I did with her over lunch:

Me: How did you like the movie:

Tirzah: Great!

Me: What did you think of Margaret Thatcher?

Tirzah: She was the strongest woman I’ve ever seen.

Me: What did you like about her?

Tirzah: She didn’t let anyone push her around and that made her a great role model, except for the sleeping.

(Thatcher said she only slept 4 or 5 hours a night and Tirzah sleeps for 11 or 12 and she knows it’s important to be well-rested.)

And did I like the movie?

Yes, I did. But I’ll warn you, I’m pretty sure the harsh realities of the Thatcher government were glossed over. Since our reason for seeing the movie did not include ‘History Lesson’, this didn’t bother me, and any story of a woman leader (fictional or not) would have suited our purposes equally well. The harsh realities of the personal sacrifices Thatcher had to make to rise to power and stay there touched me.

As for the actors – Meryl Streep was fabulous. Jim Broadbent played an excellent Denis and they portrayed a couple who had been through it all and were still together realistically.

If you want to see a fact-filled movie about a controversial leader, I’d give this movie 2 stars. If you want to see a movie about a strong woman making personal sacrifices to lead her country then this is 5 star movie.