Margaret

People who live in North America were intrigued by the rise of Margaret Thatcher. She seemed to break all the rules for success in politics: she was rigid, not pliable; she never listened, only told people what was going to happen. This approach led to three successive majority governments, but led also to resentment and finally open revolt in the ranks of her party. She was forced to resign because her fellow Tories wanted her out. At one point, late in the film, she asks if she could turn over leadership of the party to someone more popular with the rank-and-file, so she could get on with the job of running the country. That is how much she had lost touch with day-to-day reality.

Lindsay Duncan does a splendid job playing Thatcher. She has the hectoring tone down pat, but relieves it with more intimate, warmer moments. The cabinet looks like a series of gargoyles on the facade of a cathedral--the actor playing Rifkind looks like a toucan in profile, while the rest look either thuggish or pitiable. One of them even bursts into tears when confronted by Thatcher, to her irritation. This TV docudrama can be recommended enthusiastically to all non-British viewers.