What have you done to yourself?

THE IRON LADY (2011)

Producers: UK Film Council, Film4, Canal+ and others
Director: Phyllida Llyod
Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd and others
Rating: **** of 5 (4 of 5)
Pros: Captures history beautifully, another great performance from Meryl Streep
Cons: Confusing in some parts

Margaret Thatcher: a name that anybody, absolutely anybody, who has followed Cold War history would know of. Whether you love her or hate her, you cannot ignore Britain's longest-serving peacetime Prime Minister and to-date only woman PM. So how could the movies ignore her?

The Iron Lady is a wonderful movie whose name epitomizes the irony between the sobriquet that the Soviet Press invested her with and the delirious, dismal state of dementia that she lives in today. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! But the real story is that of her rise - how Margaret Roberts, daughter of a working-class grocer, and inspired by the likes of Sir Winston Chrichill, went on to become the lone MP in the Commons who took some harsh decisions as Secretary of State for Education and Science. From then on, the movie takes us though a series of events surrounding her, from her rise to Prime Minister, the Falkland Islands War (the best part of the movie) to her eventual resignation.

But perhaps the most striking feature of the movie is how the director has blended between two time periods. So while we see today's Thatcher, old, suffering from severe dementia, imagining herself to be with her late husband Dennis as she denounces terrorism, we are taken back to her heydays, when she stood up to Trade Unions and American Diplomats alike in her single-minded quest to make hard decisions. The movie is dotted with stills taken from archives, showing riotous mobs and IRA attacks and that adds to its liveliness.

As Thatcher, Meryl Streep has really outdone herself. Towards the end, when Thatcher tries to dispel her dreams of her late husband, the harrowed and frail look seems so real that you cannot really see Streep anymore. It's not merely the excellent make-up, Streep is such a brilliant actor that you really forget that she is not Thatcher herself! Jim Broadbent, as Dennis (or his ghost, rather) plays an excellent supporting role.

The movie does have the problem that it is boring in parts - continuous rants about the British-way of life make it somewhat monotonous and Thatcher herself is depicted as a rather black-and-white figure. But all that is forgiven when you consider the scenes from the Commons - how Thatcher started out as Education Secretary and was drowned out by the Opposition to the time when she looked them in the eye, the proud vanquisher of the occupiers of the Falkland Islands.

For those who love political history, The Iron Lady is an absolute mist-watch. It is not popcorn-entertainment but rather, a very serious move. The ending is worth dying for - the mighty former Prime Minister, a mere shadow of herself. Go out there and watch it! (OTFS)