Argentine moviegoers are seeing Margaret Thatcher from a different, perhaps more sympathetic perspective after “The Iron Lady” opened Thursday in Buenos Aires, according to Reuters. Thatcher was reviled among Argentines for her role in the 1982 war with Britain over the Falkland Islands. Argentine opposition lawmaker Gabriela Michetti said the film humanizes Thatcher. “You can see her youth, how much she fought against obstacles in a man’s world and as a grocer’s daughter … It’s the first time I see her this way.” Ernesto Alonso as a young conscript fought in Las Malvinas, as the Falklands are known in Spanish. “She was the harshest symbol of the policies of the empire,” Alonso said. “It’s important to see the war through a movie and see what kind of legacy this kind of character leaves behind.”

Seeing Meryl Streep playing Thatcher as an old woman in decline saddened Alicia Fischer, a retired chemical industry worker. “You have to put yourself in her shoes,” Fischer said. “She did what she had to do for her country … It’s not easy to be a stateswoman in a country like Britain.” Coincidentally, as the 30th anniversary of the conflict approaches, Britain’s Prince William has landed in the Falklands for a tour of duty as a search-and-rescue pilot. Oil exploration in the Falklands has also elevated tensions in recent months, and Britain’s deployment of a warship hasn’t helped.