Mailbag: ‘Iron Lady’ portrayed in film is inaccurate
Meryl Streep is without question an actress of extraordinary and seemingly limitless talent who was recently recognized as one of our national treasures. Her portrayal is so uncannily believable we are persuaded Streep is Margaret Thatcher.
She is truly a phenomenon, convincing us what we see is actual reality, not virtual reality. That the famed Weinstein brothers — whose Weinsten Co. made the film — have used the greatest living actress to humiliate Baroness Thatcher is both disgraceful and unforgivable.
Moreover, they have also disgraced America in the eyes of the world. To laud them for this churlish deed would be absurd, if not criminal.
Margaret Thatcher is Britain’s only female Prime Minister, the woman whose determination salvaged her nation’s economy, restored its pride and ended the Cold War with her political soul mate, Ronald Reagan. President Reagan has been the leading target of the venomous attacks of Hollywood’s liberals. Prime Minister Thatcher is the latest name to be added to the list of conservative leaders and intellectuals they have sullied and defamed, including our Founding Fathers as well as Jesus Christ and God.
The woman who made the knaves and devils of the world cower in fear is depicted as an addled, demented old lady who lives in memories and in conversations with her hallucinated dead husband. The film begins and ends with this remarkable woman depicted in this senile, quasi-psychotic state at the very moment she is about to be honored by her grateful country.
We are permitted to witness the measure of Margaret Thatcher’s true stature only in a few brief clips that depict the memories of an elderly deranged woman imagining her past life. To add insult to injury, the movie ends with Thatcher leaving a soapy teacup in her sink as she departs for the ceremony where she will be honored as one of Great Britain’s three greatest statesmen. The irony and outrage are simply stunning.
Anyone with the slightest sensitivity seeing this film experiences a physical pain watching a world leader being degraded and treated with contempt. It is particularly painful in light of Thatcher’s declining health due to multiple mini strokes. Despite these physical insults, she has retained her grace and charm. The most recent photograph taken during the Christmas holiday shows her as elegantly dressed and coiffed as her silver screen Doppelganger.
Hollywood’s relentless attack on those who disagree with the orthodox views of its liberal elite has struck a raw nerve this time. Although Meryl Streep may well win an Oscar for her surreal performance, it is a pity her vast talent couldn’t have been used to render unto Prime Minister Thatcher the esteem and respect the Iron Lady is truly due. The world owes her a great debt of gratitude, not their envious ingratitude.
Shame on Bob and Harvey Weinstein for their perfidy. Shame on Hollywood for its need to celebrate their invidious, spiteful calumny. It is a work of character assassination for which they should be taken to the woodshed.
R. Claire Friend, M.D.
Newport Beach