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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Meryl Streep gives amazing performance as Margaret Thatcher -- Iron Lady, warts and all, exposed in new biopic

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Meryl Streep gives amazing performance as Margaret Thatcher -- Iron Lady, warts and all, exposed in new biopic

Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 07:31 AM

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Run don't walk to see Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in the new movie 'The Iron Lady.'

If Streep doesn't win the Oscar for this performance there is no justice in Hollywood.

She portrays the demented Thatcher who sees her dead husband and carries out imaginary conversations with him.

She paints a picture of a sad old woman, desperately holding on to her last vestiges of sanity.

In flashback we see her life unfold as she remembers it.

After superbly acting out the old and semi deranged Thatcher Streep plays the most powerful woman in the world at her very height. She plays it so well that never for a moment do you not think it is Thatcher.

That is quite a trick, especially for an American, to pull off, the imperious gestures, the grating upper class voice, so inimical to most Irish people, the perfectly coiffed presence, who crushed or charmed every powerful man in her path.
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The scope of Thatcher's achievement is clear. A grocer's daughter entered a male-dominated world in the mother of parliaments and somehow found a way to be the first ever female Prime Minister of the world's oldest democracy.

The faults and flaws are clearly outlined too. The inability to understand the anger she created among the poorest in Britain with her savage social cuts, the cold blooded decision to let ten Irish hunger strikers die, the equally cold blooded decision to sink the General Belgrano, steaming away from the battle in the Falklands War among them.

Her husband Denis comes across as the hero of the piece, a man who was an infinitely calming presence on his megalomaniac wif.

He persuaded her finally she had outlived her popularity and was facing certain defeat in an election for Tory Party leader.

Thatcher finished power for a generation of Tories, so hated was she when she left office. yet her legacy has grown larger, especially here in America since she stepped down.

Meryl Streep's portrait warts and all is among the best work she has ever done-- no easy claim to fame that.

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26 comments

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Keynyata | Jan 30, 2012, 01:45 PM EST

Alun... You obviously believe a foreign country - England - 5,000 miles from las Malvinas - have more right than Argentina,who have the islands at their front door...to sovreignty over them...spoken like a true colonist...it was thinking like yours which set britain to steal the lands it chose to.Put in their own settlers and call the place British

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Realist | Jan 28, 2012, 04:18 PM EST

Not a great movie but a great performance by Streep. Also, the Provisional IRA are mentioned briefly - in the same context as Al Qaeda, and rightly so.

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AlunPalmer | Jan 20, 2012, 12:54 AM EST

From what I have seen, the acting is amazing. Can't stand the real Maggie, but not everything she did was bad. As for the Falklands, the only Argentinian claim to them is in their declaration of independence, but it is what a realtor would call a bad chain of title, on account of Spain not owning then at the time! If you had a house deed like that it would be worthless.

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audreybolton | Jan 19, 2012, 11:34 AM EST

Meryl Streep can play anyone. Perhaps she should tackle the role of Elvis for her next project. I totally believed her as Thatcher!

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Keynyata | Jan 18, 2012, 01:00 PM EST

Genital warts...?

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barneyjo | Jan 16, 2012, 04:14 AM EST

@everybody - it was careless of me to forget to include in my earlier post, the fact that it was a British Conservative Government led by Thatcher which signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. This agreement for the first time, gave the Irish Government direct input into the running of Northern Ireland, much to the great anger and annoyance of the Unionist people!!

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IrishEddy | Jan 15, 2012, 10:07 PM EST

Thatcher is referred to as the Iron Bigot

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Sectionhand | Jan 15, 2012, 03:44 AM EST

Niall ... Whether Streep wins an Oscar or not , there is no "justice" in Hollywood ... Just an extremely slanted and liberal point of view ... Like yours .

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barneyjo | Jan 14, 2012, 09:15 PM EST

@ciaradexy and others - I assume from your comments that you were not raised in Northern Ireland. If you had been then you would have also remembered that it was because of Margaret Thatcher and her policies that thousands of Catholic/ Nationalist Families were able to get on to the property ladder (the majority for the first time) It was Thatcher who insisted that the right to buy should be offered to all tenants of Public Authority Housing, and many did indeed take up the option. Say what you will about Thatcher and her legacy; all I know is that I would still be living in public housing as an Authority Tenant, if it had not been for her; and for that I can only be thankful!!

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ciaradexy | Jan 14, 2012, 08:00 PM EST

And Im Irish not American.

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ciaradexy | Jan 14, 2012, 07:57 PM EST

Scotchtommy, people on here know Im not remotely anti British or anti protestant so your comment is irrelevent. However one mans freedom fighter is anothers terrorist. You invade a country,take the land off the owners,give it to your people, rape,maim and murder those who didnt want you there in the first place, you can expect people to fight back which is what happened and rightly so.I was one of many who marched in Dublin at the 'Not in my name' marches with my folks when we were kids and I still feel that way today. Any violence these days is 100% not nessessary so Im glad there are talks. The future of NI should be up to the people of NI. Thatcher is a despised hated figure here since the4 days of the hunger strikes. I remember the news reports when I was a kid and I certainly dont want to ever see reports like that again.

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Curitiba | Jan 14, 2012, 06:56 PM EST

Besides, palmeiras, when were the Falklands ever Argentinian?

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Curitiba | Jan 14, 2012, 06:54 PM EST

Well, yes she did, but the Argentinians then gave the order to fire at HMS Sheffield, causing massive casualties as well. Had the Belgrano got closer, she could have sink a lot of British ships with her deadly Exocet missiles.

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palmeiras | Jan 14, 2012, 06:44 PM EST

To scotchtommy, all I can say is to stick your logic. The brits were, and still are, in occupied territory i.e. North East Ireland. It is not Ulster only part of it you bigoted prod; and Curitiba, you forget that thatcher gave the order to sink the General Belgrano (which was outside the war zone at the time) with the loss of over three hundred innocent Argentinians. Yes she should be up on war crimes charges and the Malvinas should be returned to Argentina. Dont you brits know that the empire is finished long ago or does your arrogance have no limts.

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Curitiba | Jan 14, 2012, 06:16 PM EST

The fact the the Argentinians are able to vote for their leaders today is down to her. Argentina was ruled by a fascist dictatorship who used to arrest political enemies and then chuck them out of helicopters over the Atlantic. When she kicked their butts in the Falkland, the whole sorry mess fell to pieces and Argentina was finally able to taste democracy. They should have a statue of her in Buenos Aires!

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