Meryl Streep is an actor I admire enormously, one of the greats of her generation; but in The Iron Lady she's now playing the part of Margaret Thatcher, a politician I detested. Assuming Streep does the brilliant job on this that we can expect of her - as by some accounts she does - will I have enough detachment that her performance will overcome the intense desire not to look, not to hear that voice, that always overtook me when the real Margaret Thatcher appeared on TV? Dunno. Maybe I should save myself the experience.
Suzanne Moore is spot on in G2 today in describing a similar conflict of impulses:
The Iron Lady... shows Thatcher in a vacuum, a lone woman battling against ranks of men.
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We don't see the victims of her policies. The mess we are in now is a direct result of much of what she initiated.
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I am happy enough to pay my respects to Streep... but pay respect to the woman she portrays? Sorry no.
Amen to that.