Iron Lady

Meryl Streep is at the top of her profession, stunning in her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher as a young woman, a career politician, and an elderly woman in the fog of dementia. The story is as powerful as the woman whose life is captured on the screen, but without the commanding performance of Meryl Streep, the film would have trivialized Thatcher's life and fallen flat.

It takes a strong woman to portray a strong woman, something Hollywood producers do not always remember.

Margaret Thatcher did not make life easier for her family, her friends, and her political rivals, but an easy life is not always a life lived well. Her contributions to her country outweigh her failings as a wife and mother, but only to those standing outside those relationships. Her inner steel allowed her to pursue her dreams, but her success often came at a high price for those who loved her, including her husband, who became Mr. Mom long before that became a fashionable family option. Ironically, the movie focuses on Mr. Thatcher almost as much as it does Prime Minister Thatcher, and the scenes wherein the wife has to face the rest of her life without her husband are the most wrenching because Margaret kept her husband alive long, long after his death.

Iron Lady is well worth the time and effort required to participate in the experience, both the screen capture of Margaret Thatcher's life and the stellar performance by Meryl Streep.