(Image source: Film4)

BY JESSICA GOODWIN

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN ROMERO

The Daily Mail calls it one of the most talked-about films in recent years. The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep as England’s first and only female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is nothing short of controversial. Here’s a look-

Man- “Welcome to the madhouse. Once simply has to maximise your appeal, and make you look and sound like the leader you could be.”

Thatcher- “Dennis! Dennis!”

Man- “I want authority and I want conviction!”

Thatcher- “I’ve decided to run.”

Man- “Are you saying that you want to be Prime Minister?”

Thatcher- “It is my duty.”

Man- “It’s your ambition, and the rest of us, me, the children, can all go to hell!”

The film, which follows the rise and fall of the first female leader in the western world, also depicts Thatcher as suffering from dementia in old age.

A writer for the Telegraph says it isn’t right to portray a real, living person as demented.

“...Either such a portrayal is false and therefore indefensible, or it is true, in which case the poor victim cannot answer back. The making of the film is therefore exploitative, and it is bound to hurt anyone close to her, above all, her family.”

Streep spoke to the BBC, and defends her portrayal of the elderly Baroness Thatcher. She says...

"I felt that if we did it in the right way, it would be OK... It's something that I don't think there should be a stigma about, it's life, it's the truth... We've all had that moment where you can't remember why you went upstairs and so it was extrapolating that feeling of disorientation, momentary as it is.”

But to a writer for TimeOut London -- the issue is less with the portrayal of dementia and more with the film’s politics.

“...the film runs with supportive clichés about our former PM and packages the whole thing as camp fun. That might work for a musical based on the songs of Abba. But for the life of one of our most controversial leaders, whatever you think of her politics, it’s insulting to all involved – and, above all, to us.”

Still, Streep has received praise for her performance, winning Best Actress from the New York Critics Circle and an Oscar nomination. The Hollywood Reporter says...

“...Meryl Streep is riveting in The Iron Lady. Her physical and verbal mimicry are uncanny, but her embodiment of an indomitable, uniquely British spirit perhaps even more so.”

Moviegoers will have a chance to decide for themselves, when the movie is released in cinemas on January 6th 2012.