I have been looking forward to seeing the film ‘The Iron Lady’ due to all the hype and in particular to see how the aspect of dementia has been depicted, so Sunday afternoon saw my daughter who is 19 and I trooping off to the cinema.
As far as the film itself I thought it was excellent, and there is no doubt that Meryl Streep is an accomplished actor and would get my vote for an Oscar. However……agreeing with other reviews and comments, this isn’t a film to be shown whilst MT is still alive. The dementia is brilliantly captured but the many scenes of her hallucinating about her dead husband Denis – is this true or film world make believe?
To me the film is defining Margaret Thatcher by her dementia and not by the person she was before this dreadful disease. Anyone that has experience with dementia will know that absolutely the last thing one would wish upon someone is that they are seen as the person they are with the disease. My daughter was born after MT’s ‘rule’ and really doesn’t know much about the Thatcherite years or the lady herself – but now I believe has a maligned view of MT due to the complete emphasis of the film on MT’s dementia.
The film shows MT and Ronald Reagan waltzing, is there a point being made here by the film makers?…Although we don’t see any films defining Reagan by his Alzheimer’s…..
Catriona
Hello - I am Catriona and part of the talkhealth team. I initially started my blog based on my experiences of having a mother with the diagnosis of vasular dementia. Any views expressed are my own.
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