The Iron Lady is a film with a singular subject, Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as well as the longest serving one. It is the personal and political life of a woman who did not separate the two, of a woman who had a clear philosophy and of a woman who was loved and hated in equal measures.  The progression of Thatcher’s life is told through a series of flashbacks she experiences as an older woman, who now in her mid-80s has started to experience episodes of dementia and hallucinations of her late husband Denis who the audience also see and hear.  Director Phylidda Lloyd interweaves between eras at a balanced pace, the flash backs focus more on Thatcher’s early adult years and her more successful years in power, little time is given to the years in between 1959 and 1979 which would have provided a useful backdrop to the character of Denis, and the changes he made to accommodate for the career of his wife.  Whilst the film dabbles with far too many camera angles and symbolic imaginary, it delivers well when encapsulating what Margaret Thatcher advocated as an approach to life, that of ‘thinking and doing’ as opposed to her portrayed perspective of the modern way of ‘feeling and being’. The Iron Lady is portrayed as one who knows the value of the basics in life and how determined she is to maintain those basics, whether it be as a young girl saving the butter in the family grocery or many years later as the Prime Minister quizzing her cabinet on the price of butter, or commenting on the price of milk. The film illustrates well how power changes people, and that those who stand up to bullies can indeed become the bully themselves, and it is this that is ultimately the downfall of Thatcher, but not necessarily of Thatcherism.  At least half of the film features Margaret as an older woman, fragile, slightly senile yet lucid and insightful. The role of Thatcher as a middle-aged and older lady is acted by Meryl Streep, whose performance is outstanding, most especially when portraying the vulnerable Margaret whose presence juxtaposes so ironically with the title of the film. Streep becomes an older person, her stance, her walk, her eyes, she is quite simply superb. The surrounding players are solid in their characters, though Carol Thatcher was more like Helen Lederer from Absolutely Fabulous, so Sloan Road rolled was her speech impediment.  I enjoyed the film, though it has not received any notable acclaim except for the performance by Streep.  It is an interesting perspective, many would argue a sympathetic perspective of a woman who is not yet gone and who will undoubtedly never be forgotten, nor by many, forgiven.