‘Iron Lady’ draws some Argentine sympathy

BUENOS AIRES - Long reviled in Argentina for leading Britain to war over the Falkland Islands, Margaret Thatcher’s portrayal as a vulnerable, elderly woman suffering from dementia in the new film “The Iron Lady” has won her newfound sympathy with Argentine moviegoers.

The Oscar-nominated film shows Thatcher, the 86-year-old former British prime minister, as a confused and lonely old woman remembering flashbacks of her divisive political career, and its release comes as diplomatic tensions over the Falklands are flaring anew.

“The image of the old woman makes me sad, it’s an image of the tremendous solitude that comes with power,” Alicia Fischer, a retired chemical industry worker said after seeing the film featuring Meryl Streep when it opened in Buenos Aires this weekend.

Argentina’s invasion of the British territory on April 2, 1982, is seen by most people here as a terrible mistake by the discredited military dictatorship in power at the time, but they also believe that the islands are rightfully part of Argentina.

Fischer said she will always see Britain as the enemy, but her perception of Thatcher changed after the film.

“You have to put yourself in her shoes,” Fischer said. “She did what she had to do for her country. .?.?. At any rate, it’s not easy to be a stateswoman in a country like Britain.”

Thatcher broke gender and class barriers in her rise from humble beginnings as a grocer’s daughter to leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and then prime minister.

British Prime Minister David Cameron praised Streep’s acting but criticized the depiction of Thatcher as a frail, elderly woman and suggested the film should not have been made while she was still alive and suffering from dementia.

Reuters