New Thatcher film provokes debate ahead of launch

By Anna Tomforde Dec 14, 2011, 2:06 GMT

London - Whether in real life or on the big screen, former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher seems to have lost none of her potential to divide opinion - as a passionate debate about a forthcoming film about her, The Iron Lady, shows.

In what is tipped to be an Oscar-winning performance, Hollywood actress Meryl Streep portrays the former leader, now 86, as a frail woman suffering from dementia, while flashbacks highlight key aspects of the 1979-90 Thatcher era.

In a trailer of the film scheduled to be released in Britain on January 6, Thatcher's housekeeper, finding the Iron Lady alone in her kitchen over a bowl of porridge, exclaims: 'There you are.'

'There we are,' replies Thatcher, in what is an allusion to her apparent belief that Denis, her husband of many years who died in 2003, is still with her.

It is, in particular, that aspect of the film that has outraged supporters of Thatcher in Britain, who see the portrayal as an 'insult.'

Streep, meanwhile, has been adamant in her defence of the role, saying that growing old, and suffering from dementia, should not carry a stigma. 'It's life, it's the truth,' said the actress in a recent BBC interview.

'I wanted to make a movie about mortality and letting go of life ... and we found a story that we felt could tell that tale,' she told the Daily Telegraph.

The film provided a 'completely subjective' look at Thatcher at the end of her life, portraying the 'ebbing and diminishing of her power,' said Streep.

The actress, who spent months watching and listening to videos and broadcasts so that she could get a sense of Thatcher's body language and voice, said it had been interesting to talk to people about Thatcher because 'everybody had an opinion of her.'

Her main aim in making the film, which is the work of Mamma Mia! director Phyllida Lloyd, was to 'capture whatever it was that drew people to her and whatever it was that meant people have a special venom for her,' said Streep.

Making ample use of news clips, the film recalls Thatcher's fight with Britain's trade unions, the widespread protests against her rule, the 1982 conflict with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, and the bomb attacks of the former Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Britain - among other aspects of her 11-year rule.

Thatcher's relentless rise in the male-dominated world of politics of the 1970s and 80s, her juggling of career and motherhood are given a retrospective appraisal.

'Thatcher was an outsider in her world and in her party,' said Streep in the Daily Telegraph.

'I guess I'm as passionate about my work as she was and, like her, I don't want what I'm trying to do to be misconstrued.'

'We on the left didn't like her politics but secretly we were thrilled that a woman had made it,' Streep told the Times.

'I still don't agree with a lot of her policies. But I feel she believed in them and that they came from an honest conviction.'

Michael Portillo, a former British defence minister and close Thatcher ally, said that despite Streep's 'magnificent' performance, he felt 'uncomfortable' with the scenes exposing her infirmity.

'I recognize that it is a tremendous piece of art, but that will be a controversial feature of the film,' he predicted.

Thatcher's children, twins Mark and Carol, are said to be 'appalled' by the film's plot, which they reportedly likened to a 'left-wing fantasy.'

But Lloyd, who describes the Iron Lady as an 'ideological film,' said viewers would realize how much care and attention Streep had given to preserving Thatcher's 'dignity.'