When I first heard aboutThe Iron Lady, I thought "that's an odd direction for the franchise, but I hope they give Downey Junior & Paltrow bit parts, and I look forward to seeing the final showdown with the Scargillbot". But all joking aside, I really think that the release of The Iron Lady has the potential to be an important political moment.
It seems certain to be a box office smash in the UK and the USA - Streep's heavily Oscar tipped performance, positive advance notices in the mainstream press and the heavy feminine (if not feminist) imagery deployed in the marketing all push it towards getting out the Mama Mia/King's Speech audience (I.e. - people who don't normally go to the movies) en masse.
That audience carries with it a substantial chunk of the national memory, which is deeply susceptible to influence - and we have a history of allowing our past to be dictated to us by popular, classic films. Take for example, the WW2 film Reach for the Sky.
In the film, Kenneth Moore portrays amputee fighter pilot Douglas Bader as a selfless, heroic figure, a tactical genius loved by his men, stoically overcoming his disability to win world war two. In fact, like most driven, ambitious figures Bader, was a deeply controversial figure - I recall interviewing a string of veterans who loathed him. But after the film, their voices faded away, and the myth remained, untarnished for years.
The film was a smash hit when released in 1956, and tapped into an important moment - Britain was climbing out of post-imperial, post war lethargy. Rationing was ending, people felt prosperous for the first time in decades. It was easy for many living in the 1950s to see an analogy with Bader, the man cut off at the knees who struggles through and succeeds.
I think we stand at a similar moment. It's easy to see the parallels between the period depicted in The Iron Lady and now. We will see the militant unions trying to break her; we will see an ineffectual Labour leader flailing around in despair; many will identify with Maggie's struggle to be taken seriously in a world dominated by white men of a certain class.
If the Tories can can capitalise on this moment, play up the parallels, build the legend that a conservative maverick rescued Britain from Labour-led, union backed decline, it could be a turning point.
I'm sure plenty of you are scoffing now - but myths cemented by films can make a huge difference to politics. You only need to look at the eight point leap in the polls the SNP received from the release of Braveheart. To quote Alex Salmond - "That film had a profound effect. Things politically were already on the move, but it certainly accelerated change. There aren't many films which are truly important, but this is one."
I, for one, hope that holds true for The Iron Lady. I'm sure some of you will disagree - at least until the bit where Samuel L Jackson appears and invites Maggie to join the Avengers.