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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Margaret Thatcher movie 'The Iron Lady' for Best Movie pick at the Oscars - VIDEO

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 08:29 AM

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Meryl Streep in a scene from The Iron Lady.

It is Academy Award weekend coming up, time to sit back and enjoy the best that Hollywood had to offer last year.

The Irish as always will be well represented with Glenn Close nominated for the film Albert Nobbs, set in Dublin.

I found the film slow moving and pretty predictable and will be surprised if Close manages to finally win the most coveted award in the business, the Best Actress Oscar.

My personal favorite is Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

Streep gives a riveting performance, the best she has ever given, and that is truly saying something. She IS Thatcher in the movie, capturing the imperious persona who ruled Britain for over a decade.

The callousness of her decision to attack the Belgrano during the Falklands War is wonderfully portrayed by Streep, as is her utter indifference to the IRA hunger strikes which, ironically, was the spark that led to the resurgence of Sinn Fein in electoral politics after Bobby Sands starved to death.

We hear these days that Thatcher, now 86, has become feeble minded and indeed the film portrays her as such, imagining conversations with her late husband, Denis.

The opening scene in the film has her sneaking out and ordering a bottle of milk at the local store, a tired and run down old lady far removed from her imperial power days.

Streep succeeds in making her both sympathetic and repelling in almost equal measure.

Thatcher did what no woman before her ever did, climbing to power in a country where a grocer’s daughter from Grantham had no right to run a kingdom.

She has had no equal since. Hillary Clinton would, perhaps, be the closest in terms of making it in a man’s world, and Thatcher’s achievement in obtaining power is all the more remarkable as a result.

Sarah Palin would doubtless imagine herself in such a role someday, but she has none of Thatcher’s intellect. (Indeed, The Daily Telegraph reported that Palin, when briefed as the 2008 vice presidential candidate on the possibility of Britain pulling its troops out of Iraq, said she would personally pressure the Queen not to do it – a clear indication of how little she knew about the workings of British parliamentary democracy.)

Thatcher’s Falklands/Malvinas victory was her major military “triumph.”

I remember one of the finest pieces of ironic writing I’ve ever read being about her and Ronald Reagan walking on the beach at Normandy on the 50th anniversary of that incredible World War II landing – hallowed ground indeed.

“There they strolled, the conquerors of the Falklands and Grenada respectively,” wrote a writer for The Guardian, tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Yet Thatcher got it dead right on Europe, and her insistence on retaining British independence and its currency looks positively inspired these days.

She will always remain a hate figure to many, a heroine to others, but the reality is that she remains a major figure of the 20th century, especially in the ranks of British prime ministers

If you haven’t seen Streep portray her you should do yourself a favor. Rarely has art imitated life so well.

Here, view the trailer for 'The Iron Lady':

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galway2001 | Feb 24, 2012, 08:41 PM EST

why in the world would anyone vote for that movie mgt.thatcher she was a hitler all over if she had her way she would kill every irish person that she could find do not vote for the movie and dont spend any money to see the movie she was a horrible human being,horrible

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IrelandNorth | Feb 24, 2012, 06:51 AM EST

One of her own real life radically individualistic Conservative Party colleagues once said when she fell from grace that he wouldn't ever believe she was dead until someone had driven a stake through her heart at a crossroads. He also said he would continue waring cloces of garlic around his neck. With friend like that who needs enemmies?

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Towngate | Feb 23, 2012, 06:02 PM EST

Niall, a chara, in your reasonably balanced observation on the Streep film, you cannot resist the temptation of taking a sideswipe at Palin's ignorance ~ yet proceed to display your very own on exactly the same point! >>> Niall; Margaret Thatcher was merely the Prime Minister of Her Majesty's Government for those ten years - The Queen continued to Rule! >>> Indeed a clear indication of how little YOU know about British Parliamentary Democracy! > > > Otherwise; in an unusually soft pro-British piece, in these great friendly times between 'the old enemies', it is easy to imagine you standing in front of your big mirror holding a butchers apron up to your front and wondering if it might suit you after all! Sláinte!

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