tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18360914.post6513774353029536748..comments2024-03-25T16:57:51.919+00:00Comments on Bina007 Movie Reviews: THE IRON LADYBina007http://www.blogger.com/profile/01622085135305501711noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18360914.post-57325021440396220442012-01-11T16:15:38.776+00:002012-01-11T16:15:38.776+00:00I was worried Streep's performance would be a ...I was worried Streep's performance would be a caricature, but it transcends that. She is very good at showing the vocal, physical and intellectual change in Thatcher from Minister, to PM to widow. She really isn't the problem here.<br /><br />As for Howe, yes, treacherous little shit. So much worse than Heseltine (oleaginous little parvenu interested in power and willing to do anything to get it) because Howe was actually a right (and Right) thinking politician in all areas bar Europe, and owed everything to Thatcher. I view his resignation speech as profoundly disloyal - it washed the dirty linen - the problem of Thatcher's hubris - in front of the entire nation. The Conservative Party at its best has always been capable of removing leaders with more stealth and elegance than that. <br /><br />As you say, Howe was incomprehensibly wrong. Thatcher wasn't wrong, but I have come to the conclusion that on all matters non-economic, she was always too willing to cave to her Cabinet. This, of course, doesn't fit the left's reading of her as a monomaniac, but I think stands up. She should never have signed the Single European Act.<br /><br />The more interesting character is Lawson. I have a lot more respect for him than Howe - despite the whole shadowing the DM affair....Bina007https://www.blogger.com/profile/01622085135305501711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18360914.post-40888680748262180602012-01-11T12:42:07.298+00:002012-01-11T12:42:07.298+00:00Thanks for this review. I had been waiting for it....Thanks for this review. I had been waiting for it. I will not see the movie: people talk about how well Streep supposedly captures the Lady, but from the trailers her performance strikes me as a caricature, just falling short of that of a drag queen.<br /><br />Could you elaborate on why you judge Howe a "treacherous little shit"?<br /><br />I must admit that after all these years I still don't know what to think of the Lawson, Howe, Thatcher interaction.<br /><br />On <i>substance</i>, Howe was incomprehensibly wrong on Europe. All the more so given his 'dry' credentials; as you know he was much more of a hardliner than Thatcher herself (the recently released minutes on Liverpool again confirm as much). Thatcher was spectacularly right about the ERM (I've always thought she should have made entry a resigning issue) before she caved, as well as about the Euro, of course. But she, too, was blind about the Single European Act while in office. <br /><br />However, much as it pains me to say so, in terms of <i>prudence</i> our Maggie had lost it in her third term (as you rightly describe above), and her tone was sadly counterproductive both on Europe and in Europe, as well as at home. Surely Howe was right about that.Malcatraznoreply@blogger.com