Film on Thatcher sparks heated controversy in Britain

By Britta Guerke Jan 4, 2012, 18:31 GMT

London - A movie portraying former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is making waves in Britain, dividing opinions as sharply as the 'Iron Lady' herself did - and still does.

The Iron Lady, by British director Phyllida Lloyd, only had its London premiere on Wednesday, but it has been hotly debated for months on the basis of media reports, its trailer, and advance viewings that were granted to some politicians and journalists.

Some feel the movie does not do justice to Thatcher's toughness, while others see it as too soft a portrayal of a 'terrifying' figure.

Thatcher, who was Britain's first, and so far only, female prime minister, from 1979 to 1990, is now 86. The ultra-conservative Tory politician suffers from dementia and has withdrawn from public life.

US actress Meryl Streep, 62, is being tipped for an Oscar for her performance as Thatcher. The Times newspaper named The Iron Lady as the top must-see movie in 2012.

Some of the most controversial parts of the film show Thatcher as a fragile old lady suffering from advanced dementia. She talks to her long-dead husband, and her daughter needs to remind her that she no longer governs Britain.

Flashbacks document her rise and fall from power.

'This is not the Margaret Thatcher I knew,' Thatcher's former cabinet member and long-time political companion Norman Tebbit wrote in the conservative Daily Telegraph.

'I do not know whom the makers of the Meryl Streep film talked to' - but certainly not to Tebbit himself, he complained.

'She was never, in my experience, the half-hysterical, overemotional, overacting woman portrayed by Meryl Streep,' Tebbit said. Some Tory legislators even requested a debate on 'good taste and respect' in parliament.

Others, however, saw the film as depicting Thatcher as far too friendly and harmless a figure.

'Streep's Thatcher is nothing like the woman who terrified me,' critic Kevin Maher wrote in The Times. He described The Iron Lady as a 'nightmarish' figure, attributing Lloyd's understanding portrayal of her to the almost 'mythical' status she acquired after leaving political life.

Debate also focuses on Lloyd's lack of emphasis on Thatcher's policies, ranging from disempowering the trade unions to her toughness in the Falklands War and rapprochement with the United States.

Lloyd said in several interviews that she was more interested in the price Thatcher paid for power, as well as in her position as a woman in a man's world.

Streep also delved into Thatcher's personality rather than her politics. The actress has spoken of how her liberal views made her dislike Thatcher as a politician, but how she gradually grew to admire her.

'I still don't agree with a lot of her policies. But I feel she believed in them and they came from an honest conviction and that she wasn't a cosmetic politician just changing make-up to suit the times,' Streep said.

'She stuck to what she believed in, and that's a hard thing to do,' the actress added.