The Duff & Nonsense Arts Section

All the quality newspapers - oh come on, some of them aren't too bad - have an Arts Section and I think it is time D&N had one.  After all, we had an excellent review of The Killing (Series I) by my e-pal Ortega which opened my eyes to aspects of the production which had passed me by, probably due to my attention becoming fixed on the rather neat little derrière of the heroine.  Anyway, today we have a report on the controversial film based on the life of Lady Thatcher, The Iron Lady.  I still can't quite bring myself to see it for reasons which I might go into in greater detail later.  However, my e-pal, Andra, has seen it and sent me a private e-mail with her reactions to it.  It was so good I asked her if I could publish it here, to which she agreed.  You won't read this sort of a critique in The Sunday Times!  Anyway, all the way from 'down under there', here is Andra's opinion:

Well, this is a tricky situation.  I ventured out to see this fillum because I had heard so much about Ms Streep and her depiction of the Iron Lady.  I think the last time I actually went inside a cinema was to see "Buena Vista Social Club" back in another century. ( I now have it in DVD form so I can watch it whenever I like, which is lovely, because I quite often "like.") 

However, back to this one. 

Going into the cinema complex was quite interesting in itself.  I looked on the interwebbie thing and found that there was an early showing at 10 a.m. at one of those multi-plex joints, which is apparently all there is any more.  The days of the independent theatre are long gone.  Ah well.  That's progress, or so "they" say. 

So, here we are, at 9.45 a.m. on a very quiet morning toddling into this multiplex; where there are 4 movies showing I believe.  The one we are interested in is the only one happening at this hour, so it seems, as there are no screeching children to be seen, just a minor procession of doddering 60 + greyhairs.  We are a chatty lot and so we talk among ourselves while waiting for the one and only attendant to finish providing several buckets of inedible looking popcorn and enormous jugs of some unnamed liquid to a few 30 somethings who have, seemingly, wandered into our theatre by mistake - or maybe they just really like to eat this crap and come here every morning for breakfast. 

The old coot in front of me is delighted to tell me he has just been given a lovely calendar by some automotive firm and it has one page for each month and he can actually see the dates without his glasses.  He is very excited by this.  I try to share his enthusiasm and I believe he is happy enough with my responses but I think it's touch and go. 

So, I obtain a ticket eventually, at a cost of $ 12.  I do not require any popcorn or icecreams or chocolates or cola, which seems to disappoint our serving wench, but them's the breaks, sister.  Suck it up, as they (allegedly) say. 

OK.  up the stairs we totter.  Could have taken the lift, as many of the elderly dears have, but I am a walker of some renown and so I scale the heights.  Into the theatre, which seats 260, and I counted.  We eventually manage around 80 and I was at first surprised to see 3 or 4 people in their 30's wander in and settle, but I suppose they have come to see Ms Streep or maybe they are just studying ancient history. 

I actually found the movie kind of tedious but I do realise that Thatcher's term in office was not particularly hilarious.  I also found, not long into the movie that I wasn't sure if my bladder was telling me something or not and I spent the next hour and a half worrying whether I should venture out to the toilet or not.  I was daunted by the two very fat people who were sitting at the aisle that I had to pass.  I wasn't happy to see them come in and settle there as they came with walking sticks and copious bags of popcorn and chocolates and assorted detritus.  They had, seemingly, settled in for the duration, and I really couldn't see how I could sidle past them (twice even) without disrupting the entire theatre and so I sat and quietly and thought of my bladder. 

My bladder turned out to be just fine although there was quite a rush for the toilets as soon as the show finished.  

Oh dear.  I suppose you still insist on knowing what I thought of the movie.  Not a whole lot, really.  But I don't think there was really a whole lot you could do with it.  It's history after all and most of the people involved are still living.  Was it intrusive to depict Mrs. Thatcher as a doddering old lady suffering from dementia and having long conversations with the departed Dennis? 

Yes - absolutely. 

 I don't know who gave permission for her story to be filmed or if permission was even required.  Still, to me it seemed vaguely unnecessary and certainly unseemly.  But, then again, I don't know how else they could have told the story, or even why the story needed to be told, at this stage in history. 

As far as I can see the only reason for making this movie at this time was to showcase Meryl Streep as a great actress and this movie has done just that.  I think she will go down as the greatest actror/ess of all time.  It seems she can just "be" anybody she wants to be at any time. 

It's probably worth seeing the movie just to see her acting but maybe for you the history is still too near.  And I can understand that.  It's a bit more distant for us and just evokes memories more than stirring up any feelings one way or the other.  Am I correct in thinking this was the probably last time Britain truly had a leader who took the initiative and made some hard decisions for the good of the nation? 

Let the memsahib go and see it and leave it alone, yourself, would probably be my advice. 

I'm not unhappy that I saw it and I must say, I realised about 5 minutes before the end that there hadn't been a cough or a single murmur throughout the whole movie and I think that's probably the most telling point.  We all enjoyed it and were obviously quite engrossed in it. .... it's just that some of us were distracted by extraneous matters.

Thanks, Andra, and I think I will take the advice kindly offered in your penultimate paragraph.

 

Comments

[dearieme]

The most revealing comment (present company excepted) that I've seen about the film is Heseltine's complaint that the actor playing him has got the details of his hairdo wrong. Such were the twerps she had to deal with.

[David Duff]

Ah, yes, Heseltine, the Patron Saint of Scousers, upon whom he bestowed my money! Bastard!

(Two quick questions, DM. Do you know why Deogolwulf retired? And second, did you or Mrs. DM ever try those Alan Furst books?)

[JK]

By any chance did you enlist the services of our good Andra prior to the meeting of the managers in which the "Austerity Program" was adopted?

I only ask because I know how steep Andra's fees are. Mind, worth every penny but.

[dearieme]

i) No, but I much regret it.
ii) Sorry, my attempts to interest her in your recommendations have so far been unavailing. If you keep popping them up, I'll keep passing them on.

[David Duff]

JK, my adice is - be careful, be very, very careful, a displeased Andra is not to be contemplated.

DM, likewise with regard to Deogolwulf. I keep cliciking on just incase.
As for Mrs DM's refusal to contemplate my recommendations, I am a shocked, shocked, I tell you!