By Jason Apuzzo. While we’re on the subject of major figures of the Cold War era (see the J. Edgar review below), a new trailer has just arrived for The Iron Lady, about Margaret Thatcher.
So will this be the hit job many people are fearing, or something more complex and true-to-life? Judge for yourself.
Posted on November 14th, 2011 at 11:26am.
Very difficult to tell if it’s going to be balanced by this trailer. Of course it’s not unknown for a trailer to bare little resemblance to the actual tone of a movie. I’m intrigued enough to consider viewing it only if it’s not a hack job. Also a January release is not a good sign. Any movie released in the first quarter of a year stands the highest chance of being junk.
Based on this trailer, I’m a little more favorably disposed toward the film – but still wary. I wouldn’t make too much out of the January release, though. The calendar’s pretty crowded these days and it’s hard for indies to find a good slot.
Hmm … well, I didn’t expect anything that looked that good. Still, I’m like a battered spouse with this stuff. I certainly want to support something that treats Thatcher with respect, but I’m not interested in getting punched in the face either.
Obviously the miners’ strike is going to be a big part of this film, and that’s where Thatcher is usually targeted by the left.If that part if treated with intellectual honesty, them maybe there’s hope for this picture.
Because she’s one of my favorite figures in history, I’ll probably drag myself to the theater just to see for myself.
I think there’s still plenty of room to be skeptical about this project, but out of the gate it looks better than I’d expected. A general rule is that stars of Ms. Streep’s variety don’t do projects like this with the idea that they’re going to look anything other than glamorous and sympathetic. The devil, however, will likely be in the details. I’m already concerned with the big spotlight they’re putting on her ‘image-making’ efforts. This is similar to the tactic the media often took with Reagan: reducing his accomplishments to merely being a function of good p.r.
It looks like “The Prime Minister’s Speech.”