Iron Lady, basically a mediocre film, according to the Argentine reviews
Meryl Streep may have been nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady” but Argentine critics reviewed the film as ‘mediocre’ during its premiere in Buenos Aires on Thursday.
The film opened in Argentine theaters amid a furor over the Falkland Islands, which Thatcher's Britain and Argentina fought a brief and bloody war over 30 years ago, when forces sent by the military Junta invaded the Islands in April 1982.
In the movie, Thatcher is shown ordering Britain's military to sink the Argentine warship Belgrano, which killed 323 Argentine sailors and remains controversial because the ship was considered to be outside the war zone.
She also dismisses the entreaties of the American ambassador to settle the dispute peacefully, suggesting that as a woman, she's had to “go to war every day” to maintain her hold on power.
Reducing the war to a question of feminism “is absurd, to say the least,” the daily Clarin wrote in Thursday's review. Nevertheless it admits that the brief scenes on the Malvinas war will “trigger curiosity” among Argentine public opinion, even when there are not that many revelations, besides the fact that the Iron Lady was the most convinced of going ahead with the war, in spite of all the advise to the contrary.
Others praised Streep's acting, but panned the script as mediocre.
“A character so controversial for her own citizens, the citizens of the world and especially for Argentines, Thatcher deserves a better movie” huffed La Nacion.
According to government financed Tiempo Argentino the director Phyllida Lloyd opts for a former prime minister that in senility and with the first symptoms of Alzheimer, “roams through her home holding imaginary conversations with her late husband and ill-treating her daughter”.
However it praised the re-edition of the war, “one of the few chapters with the right timing with a documented and serious investigation about the conflict”.
Which is the Thatcher that the director, script writer and leading actress really wanted to come across with asks Pagina 12. Ultimately the former prime minister is not properly defined.
For Ambito Financiero the film shows a Margaret Thatcher that pleases nobody. “Only the good team of actors with Meryl Streep saves a biography poorly compiled, from mediocrity”.
“The film will not please feminists or admirers or opponents of the Iron Lady and for Argentina it adds another factor of disappointment: “a triumphant Troy version of the Malvinas War with an admiration framework for that terrible imperial order to ‘Sink the Belgrano’”.
The sinking of the General Belgrano cruiser 2 May 1982 caused the loss of 323 Argentine sailors, mostly conscripts, and half the Argentine losses in the war. The sinking was involved in a long standing controversy because allegedly she was exiting the British exclusion zone imposed round the Falklands when she was torpedoed.
However politics aside Argentine Navy officers and recently released documents from the UK indicate that she was actually regrouping with an Argentine task force planning an attack on the Islands.
Suggested Stories
-
May 23rd 2013
Falkland Islands wish for normal neighborly relations with all South American neighbors
-
May 21st 2013
Falkland Islands: it’s a three-side debate; Argentina must recognize Islanders right to decide their future
-
May 21st 2013
Falklands: optimism about identification of the unknown Argentine soldiers
-
May 21st 2013
Falklands MPA has the minimum force necessary to prevent a repeat of 1982 invasion
34 comments Feed
Note: Comments do not reflect MercoPress’ opinions. They are the personal view of our users. We wish to keep this as open and unregulated as possible. However, rude or foul language, discriminative comments (based on ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or the sort), spamming or any other offensive or inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated. Please report any inadequate posts to the editor. Comments must be in English. Thank you.
hardly something worthy of an article
Note that in the rugby sevens in Wellington (the capital of NZ, FYI...) today, Argentina went down (lost) bleating...
If, in actuality, or the film version, more - or less - Argentine sailors had died, would this have made the film more, or less, popular in Argentina? Many people did not like Thatcher, myself included, but she was a vast improvment on the maggots who were running Argentina at the time.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA honestly I cried with laughter in real life.
Well guess what...
I'm doing better than ever under the Tories. I have a great job. I have just purchased a new car. I am off on holiday abroad this year - possibly twice. I am also in the process of redecorating my home and tomorrow will be buying myself a new watch. I'm really loving life at the moment. I eat out regular at Gastro Pubs and make frequent shopping trips to London. What recession? I do not support the Tories and have never voted for them, nor Labour either, but I must say life is rather good. I know it isn't the same for all my fellow citizens but there we go. Shit happens. In life some people are on the way up as others are on their way down.
I must agree with Michael Locke - the cuts are not going deep enough.
One question though, has Argentina taken notice of any of IMF advice relating to their terrible inflation? No, because they are too caught up talking about the Falkland Islands.
Also, we're not in a double dip recession yet; there's been only one quarter of negative growth. I suppose you shouldn't be expected to understand simple economic terms seeing as you idolize Cristina Kirchner, Queen of Latin American basketcase economies (Chavez is King).
Would you like the UK to have crazy inflation hikes as bad as some South American countries? Their policies are wrong. They have pathetic priorities - Argentina would rather let their country crumble and gain the Falkland Islands than have a safe, economically stable, wealthy country.
Given the choice between being diplomacy and child like spats of anger and lies, they choose child like spats of anger and lies.
Argentina has never recovered from being a wannabe be Axis power in the 1930's. Argentina's version of fascism (like that of Spain's) remained undefeated by WW2 Allied powers. It hadn't even had to fight a real civil war to maintain power, just murder 50,000-100,000 of its own unarmed political activists and we all know how easy that was for their brave and heroic military men, like their hero Commander Astiz.
It took the Falklands War to shake the Argentines into some semblance of reality. Remove their military government and see the Americans as something other than a benevolent uncle, rather more like a the uncle you kept your children away from, you know the one in the old mack who always had his hands in his pockets and a grimace on his lips.
But within a few short years a girl came alone, a wannabe Eva Peron and took them all the way back to year zero! And the Argentine people gave up their collective memory and switched back to servile child.
In the West it's very difficult to understand how the average Argentine thinks. We have to imagine how our own per-adolescent children think and we can then get into their mindset. Give them a box of toy soldiers & some flags to play with and they are as happy as pie, tell them that they can't own Tracey Island though and they will cry their eyes out.
At school, the teachers would always tell them “Tracey Island” was their's. Even though the reality was, it wasn't!
Where are you living? Certainly not Argentina. Who has been brought to justice? A few short prison terms, slaps on wrists. You are not even on same planet!
You can tell me what Kirchner has done for the economy? The corruption? She's in bed with the corruption and being screwed by the economy!
I wonder: is it just accidental that a film like this comes in a moment where ordinary people is being wanted to pay the crisis in Europe?
I hope I am just being prejudiced about this. But the truth is that films always support political and ideological ideas behind the stories they tell.
I want to watch it anyway :)
Good question, I like how you think =) But seeing how much a lot of Thatcherites over here hate the film themselves (a lot of it is about the present day Thatcher suffering from dementia) and given that its director last worked with Meryl on Mamma Mia, I'm not sure thats right. This time...
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!