Iron Lady

I gather from this morning's news that Meryl Streep has won a golden globe (whatever that is) for her performance in this film.

Whatever you may think of her performance (and it was undeniably brilliant), having seen the flim, I don't think it should have been made at all. I won't say what my views on Thatcher are (they're irrelevant to this post), but to portray someone in crumbling old age and dementia - pathetic, confused, and haunted by images of her dead husband - while she is still alive, seems to me desperately cruel and inappropriate. Watching this film, I felt as though I were spying on somone when I shouldn't have been there at all; voyeuristic and very uncomfortable. Thatcher is/was a dignified and quite private figure. To exploit her privacy when (presumably)she is no longer able to give or withhold permission, for commercial purposes (and films are commercial, whatever the film-maker may say) is, I think, totally unethical. I really hope this film doesn't go on to win more accolades and further exploit its subject.

There. I feel much better now. I shall now go off and see that bloody horse.