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Film review: The Iron Lady

My review in this week's issue of Tehelka

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Phyllida Lloyd’s biopic of a powerful politician is a chronicle of ageing, loneliness, and sheer sadness, says Priyanka Gill

The Iron Lady is the herald of the many films, books and writings that will chronicle the life of Lady Thatcher, arguably the most famous British prime minister after Winston Churchill. Thatcher was an extremely polarising figure evoking strong opinions ranging from blind devotion to extreme hatred. As the only female prime minister in British history, she remained in power for 11 years.

However, this is not what the controversial film is about. Even one-time Thatcher rivals such as Michael Heseltine found the release of a film focusing on Lady Thatcher’s dementia whilst she is still alive ‘distasteful’. The Thatcher family has rejected the film. They have publicly refused to see it. David Cameron also came out against the film saying, “I wish they could have made another day.” Lady Thatcher’s detractors have taken the issue with its lack of criticism.

Thatcher’s tale is told through a series of flashbacks, through the disjointed memories of the octogenarian lady suffering from dementia-induced delusions. The film is a love story, an intimate look into her relationship with her husband Denis (played by Jim Broadbent). In the film’s timeline, he passed away several years ago, but she has touching conversations with him about the minutiae of her daily life and her past. Towards the end of the film we see her valiantly trying to banish his ghost from her mind in a tear-jerking bid to remain sane.

It’s a chronicle of ageing, depicting the loneliness, the loss of control and sheer sadness that is the unfortunate by-product of an inevitable process.

However, in doing so, the film reduces the strong leader to a senile woman. Her achievements are merely incidental to the storyline and her ruthlessness is a cautionary tale.

The Iron lady is a personal depiction of the guilt and regrets confronting a powerful leader in her fading years. The rise to power, her transformation into a force to reckon with and the many political storms she faced are just hinted at and tantalisingly dangled before the viewer. There is no perspective or historical context offered.

Meryl Streep, of course, remains the saving grace of the film. She delivers a stunning, maybe even an Oscar-winning performance. Not only is she a potent mimic of Thatcher’s mannerisms, but also manages to delve into the soul of the character created by director Phyllida Lloyd. With brilliant make-up and prosthetic enhancement (the process took two hours apparently), Streep portrays Thatcher to the hilt. Moving effortlessly and convincingly between the young and old periods, it is a master class in both acting and making the best of a rather loose script.

One almost wishes they had made the film like they cut its trailer—with a focus on the woman, her rise to power and her achievements. The dementia she became afflicted with in her latter years is an unfortunate ailment, not the key to decoding the woman behind the legend.

Llyod’s film is worth a watch, if only to inspire further study into the force of nature that Maggie Thatcher once was.

Priyanka Gill is a freelance journalist and an avid art collector. 
She blogs at www.estylista.com 

Profile: Martin Henderson

The ladies’ man

Priyanka Gill on Martin Henderson’s hunky looks, oodles of charm and his road to Hollywood fame

Martin Henderson is rather peeved with the traditional Bollywood formula as it made a lingering on-screen kiss with Aishwarya Rai in Bride and Prejudice virtually impossible. But apart from that, he is one happy trooper in Gurinder Chadha’s band of merry actors. He has a couple of Hollywood credits under his belt with The Ring and the action flick Torque.

Henderson is one of those leading men who look much better in person rather than on screen. When I saw him he was dishevelled with a sexy stubble and long hair, (which he says is for a role), and it looked really good on him. The straight-laced Mr Darcy he plays on screen does him little justice. He first heard about Gurinder Chadha on a flight. “I was surfing the in-flight channels and I chanced upon the gorgeous Kiera Knightley in Bend it Like Beckham on the tiny screen. I saw the entire film, and liked it, despite the fact that I was not really interested in the British-Asian subject,” Henderson said. A few years later, he read the script for Bride and Prejudice and took on the role of the narrow-minded American millionaire who looks down upon all things Indian. “It was difficult to play someone who was so dismissive of the Indian culture, because I was having a ball revelling in all its wonders,” says Henderson.

Not surprisingly, playing the Bollywood hero was quite a challenge. As Chadha explains “Santosh Sivan would try and take a lingering close up on Henderson and I would be laughing behind the camera as he looked so out of place.” He is also clearly uncomfortable with the musical sequences. “Thankfully for everyone watching the film, I am not doing a lot of singing,” says Henderson.

So, a career in Bollywood might be out of the question for Henderson, but all eyes are on the film to see if Chadha will jumpstart his career as she did for Kiera Knightley. Whether the film is a hit or a miss, one gets the feeling that Henderson will make it — hunky looks, oodles of charm added to the fact that he can actually act, this Kiwi actor is well on the road to Hollywood glory.

October 16th 2004

Film review: Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11

Director: Michael Moore

MERCURY RISING: FAHRENHEIT 9/11. MICHAEL MOORE'S MUCH AWAITED FILM HEATS UP THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Few filmmakers are able to generate controversy as consistently as Michael Moore. His Oscar winning documentary Bowling for Columbine showcased gun violence in America. His latest offering Fahrenheit 9/11 puts President George Bush in the line of fire. It is easily the most controversial film in this year's Cannes selection.

The media screening for the film was jam-packed and hundreds of press members were turned away. At the official screening, the limited press seats were taken an hour before screening. The audience was on its feet when Moore walked into the auditorium.

Not many movies can live up to such extreme hype, but Fahrenheit 9/11 managed to do so and more. It begins with a premise that Bush rigged his presidential victory. Apparently, Indian politicians are not the only ones to manipulate electoral rolls! Then we are shown a blank screen with the chilling sounds of the planes crashing into the twin towers. Bush spent ten minutes after hearing the news of the disaster reading 'My Pet Goat' to nursery children, the implication being that the president didn't know how to react, unless it was told to him. We have all known that Bush is not the smartest kid on the block, but the film brings together all known evidence and the not so public bits to piece together a damning argument against Bush and his cronies.

The relationship between the Bush family and Bin Ladens is given an incisive post mortem. Moore claims that six private jets and two dozen commercial planes flew some 142 Saudis out of America soon after the attacks, including members of the Bin Laden family. The business relationship between them is spoken about at length, systematically building a picture of Bush as an incredibly lax president especially as he allowed two months to lapse before going after Osama Bin Laden. Moore claims that Afghanistan was bombed to appease the US public, garner support for the Iraq war and to build an oil pipeline. Bush's inner circle is benefiting from the 'rebuilding' of Iraq. As the rationale behind the Iraq war was expounded, a man sitting behind me exclaims: "This is so fucked-up." It could very well be Bush's epitaph.

The movie ends with emotional interviews with parent who lost their sons in the Iraq war and with soldiers themselves which brings into sharp focus the blatant disregard for the soldiers' lives. Moore tries to persuade members of the Senate to send their children to fight in Iraq. Not surprising, the idea doesn't have any takers.

Moore has openly stated that he will do anything to oust Bush from power. The film exposes Bush as a power hungry ego-maniac who will go to any lengths to satisfy his greed. Moore is now at loggerheads with Disney after it backed out of distributing the film to safeguard interests in Florida, where Bush's cousin is governor.

At the end, Moore gets a protracted 15 minute standing ovation from the audience. People share the same refrain: "It was amazing… how can Bush get away with it?"

Critics of the film say that Moore fails to back up some of his claims with proof. This charge is open to debate. But Moore has an agenda and the film fulfils it. Fahrenheit 9/11 may well be the trump card for the Democrats in this year's US presidential election. The Bush camp manipulated the media to achieve its ends and it is about time that the media strikes back.

Film review: One Dollar Curry

An Indian in Paris

Director: Vijay Singh

Starring: Vikram Chatwal, Smriti Mishra, Garbiella Wright

 
INDIAN CINEMA has a big following in France though relatively few Indians live in France. Director Vijay Singh's film One Dollar Curry caters to this crowd. Paris is a new setting, unlike cities like London or New York, which have been in the background fpr a whole bunch of films. Singh knows Paris well. He has been living there for over 20 years, working as a journalist and a writer-director. His first feature film Jaya Ganga starring Smriti Mishra received rave reviews. Despite its limited release, the film ran for 49 weeks in Parisian cinemas before going on to screen in 80 cinemas around the UK.

It's no surprise that One Dollar Curry opened to a full house in the Cannes market section. The film tells the story of Nishan, (Vikram Chatwal), a young Sikh who comes to Paris as a political refugee with nothing except bottlews of 'Kamasutra Nandi Bull Oil'. In order to sustain himself he resorts to selling cheap Indian food on the streets of Paris and ultimately reincarnates himself as the Maharaja of Indian cuisine by creating fake credentials for himself. His partner in crime is Nathalie (Gabriella Wright), a budding TV journalist working on a documentary on immigration. Her increasing attraction to him provides a twist in the tale. Nishan's Indian fiancée, Yamini (Smriti Mishra), pays him a surprise visit. Rather conveniently, Francois, the TV producer that Nathalie and Nishan are looking to impress, fall for Yamini's dusky looks and kathak dancer's grace. All the kinks are ironed out to lead the way to the happily ever after end.

It is not an original tale; we have seen variations of the same in films like Guru. But the charm lies in the director's ability to make the circumstantial plot seem quite plausible. Singh claims to deal with dark issues such as racial discrimination and the traumas associated with immigration with absurd comedy, as a result, it does ask for suspension of disbelief from the viewer. But in return, one understands the complications that immigrants face. We empathise, but we also realise that happy, contrived endings are possible in movies, not in real life. Ultimately, it is a mad caper by an imaginative Sikh, who makes it in a foreign land helped by the occasional stroke of good fortune – finding a Hindi-speaking French Judge and landing a gorgeous French girlfriend.

Shot largely in English, with a smattering of French, Hindi and Punjabi, the film caters to a foreign audience. India is seen through the eyes of an outsider and this exotic representation might not go down well so well with the Indian viewer. One Dollar Curry has an Indian-based storyline with crossover appeal. More importantly, Singh shows us a face of Paris that has not been seen before. There is just one shot of the Eiffel Tower, that too in the background (which cost 23,000 euros in royalty). Instead we see the back streets that immigrants haunt. While it may not have the magic of Monsoon Wedding, One Dollar Curry represents a new branch of Indian cinema that is not just US or UK-centric but Euro-centric.

Film review: Phir Milenge

Bollywood Aids

Director: Revathy

Starring: Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan

THIS COMMERCIAL FILM WITH AN UNCONVENTIONAL STORYLINE COULD START A WELCOME TREND

These are desperate times for Bollywood. Skin flicks seem to be ruling the roost with high voltage glamour and minimum clothing in item numbers being conceived as the major pull factor.

Filmmakers have a rather low estimation of the average viewer's intellect and sensitive subjects are often considered the 'art-film' domain. But actress turned director Revathy's Phir Milenge is a commercial attempt at dealing with an unconventional storyline.

It tells the story of Tamanna, an ad-exec who gets the boot for being HIV positive. Shilpa Shetty gives a sterling performance. Her cause is championed by Abhishek Bachchan and it could very well be his best performance so far.

Phir Milenge is important because it could be the herald of a welcome trend in Indian cinema: the emergence of mainstream storylines not dependant on the hero-herione romance, which forms the basis of most films. The script might be shoddy and the crying bouts excessively long, but its success could inspire other filmmakers into challenging the audience's intellectual maturity rather than simply appealing to their more basic instincts.

Film review: Mona Lisa Smile

A Very Ordinary Smile 

Director: Mike Newell

Starring: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst

A WEAK PLOT, SLAP-DASH SCRIPT AND A WASTED STAR CAST, SAYS PRIYANKA GILL

There are some fantastic ways to spend two hours. Watching Mona Lisa Smile is not one of them. Films about teachers and students are generally inspiring but this new addition to the well-established genre leaves the viewer frustrated with the exceedingly weak plot and slap-dash script. This female take on Dead Poets Society is a miserable failure.

The star-studded cast of Mona Lisa Smile is led by Julia Roberts who plays a bohemian 1950's college professor Katherine Wilson. We know she's bohemian because we are told as much. There are certain roles that Roberts plays well – like the good prostitute or the gorgeous crusader – but as a professor, her performance falls flat. Katherine comes to the conservative all-girls' Wellesley College to teach art criticism and tries to enthuse the students with her fiery brand of feminism. She wants her students to question the institution of marriage but her own constant rejection of love is not explored.

The students are represented by a quartet of friends, who initially challenge Katherine, but soon enough, accept her. Only Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst) remains staunchly against Katherine and her avant-garde methods of teaching. Warren uses the editorials of the student newspaper to wage war against everything that threatens the function of a Wellesley education as a training ground and precursor to sensible housewifery. Be it the contraception that the lesbian school nurse played by Juliet Stevenson distributes, for which she is sacked or Katherine's efforts to motivate Warren's best friend, the smart Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles) to take up law at Yale along with marriage. Warren is ultimately 'defeated' as her dream marriage ends in divorce and she is convinced that Katherine's arguments are right and becomes president of Katherine's fan club.

Giselle Levy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) gives a stellar performance as the free-spirited sexual adventuress who sleeps with her Italian Professor Dunbar (Dominic West). Levy serves as a foil to Warren's prissy uptightness and represents her generation's struggle to balance sexual freedom with the emotional demands of her heart.

Newcomer Ginnifer Goodwin makes an impressive debut as Connie. She plays the nice girl who is not as attractive as the others or as smart. She falls for a bespectacled young mans and ultimately, she is the only who is left happily in love.

West's interpretation of the campus Casanova, Professor Dunbar, is one-dimensional; his character has neither the wit nor the charm to pull it off. His seduction of Katherine is contrived and hard to swallow. The final showdown between Katherine and Dunbar is a convenient ending to the film, which never really goes anywhere. Just before the credits, we see Katherine's character leaving Wellesley, smugly happy with the adulation of the students who once challenged her.

Mona Lisa Smile disappoints, simply because there is an abundance of acting talent that goes to waste because the plot line is wafer thin. The script is not in the least bit innovative or insightful and all lthat remains is a clichéd portrayal of feminism that fails to break new ground. The movie has no purpose besides serving up the hackneyed follow-your-dreams (as long as it is not marriage) message.