4. The Iron Lady (2011)
Meryl Streep gave a fantastic performance in The Iron Lady. She got Margaret Thatcher's speech and mannerisms eerily right and fully deserved her Oscar for Best Actress. The film was not really well-liked by British critics - it was Streep's performance that is said to have carried the film for a lot of people. Thatcher will always be a controversial persona in Britain so it is understandable that the only actor willing to even attempt portraying her is an American. Thatcher is not liked by many in Britain today; the film portrays her as brave, triumphant and as doing what is best for her country when in fact a lot of towns in Northern Britain are still trying to recover from her policies. She closed down coal mines and steelworks which left towns without a proper local economy, putting half the working population of these towns out of work and onto benefits. Aside from this the film doesn't mention a lot about her time in office; very little is mentioned about the poll tax riots, the miners' strike is brushed over and the Falklands issue is mentioned briefly. Eventually her party had enough after years of MPs being sacked if they disagreed with her and with public support rapidly decreasing; she was replaced by John Major. Many areas in the UK still refuse to vote for the Conservatives today as a result of Thatcher's time in office. ... Anyway, Meryl Streep was pretty good wasn't she?