I find it uncannily curious, bordering on the surreal, that a couple of months after the release of a movie about Britain’s singularly most controversial living woman and Iron Lady, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, we release a movie about Malta’s most controversial man in living history. Our very own Iron Man if you like – former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.

Dear Dom is a testament to Mintoff’s multitalented, often misguided and misunderstood brilliance, as the most powerful, most controversial and consequential man Malta has seen yet- Michela Spiteri

Perhaps it was deliberate after all, and it would be quite apt and fitting for a multitude of reasons. I’m not even sure anyone has picked up on the striking similarities between the two former legendary Prime Ministers and ex-Oxonians, quite apart from the close proximity of their tributary movie releases.

Despite Mintoff’s nine year headstart into the world, both Prime Ministers would eventually overlap in their terms in office, even serving under the monarchy of Queen Elizabeth under Malta’s colonial rule. Their prime ministerial office, spanned much of the late seventies and 80s – a bitterly divisive political era which saw great social and economic changes as well as strides in education, social upward mobility and the welfare state.

Both became bigger than the politics they advocated. We speak of Thatcherites and Thatcherism in the same way we speak of Mintoffians. There is no such equivalent with any of Mintoff’s successors. Even the adulated George Borg Olivier and much loved Eddie Fenech Adami did not succeed in forging an equivalent political ideology. Whether you supported Borg Olivier, Fenech Adami or Lawrence Gonzi, you remained a Nationalist.

They were rarely referred to by their names and assumed other identities and personas, aided and defined by their nicknames and of course their props – the handbag in Thatcher’s case and the buckled belt in Mintoff’s.

Both leitmotifs became symbols of unparalleled power, a clear reminder that these people would not buckle under pressure or adversity, nor defer to authority. They were headstrong, controlling, unprecedented negotiators who drove a hard bargain and fought tirelessly for the things they believed in.

They steamrolled through their careers playing games of political brinkmanship, convinced that the bigger picture in their head, justified their frequently questionable modus operandi, one they felt no compulsion to explain or apologise for. Which was probably the most refreshing aspect of their characters – the total absence of or need for validation.

They were born at a time when class was often the determining factor of one’s destiny – to families who strongly believed in sacrifice and education. Both came from nowhere and successfully conquered worlds they weren’t born into, winning scholarships to Oxford, when few in Britain and Malta could hope for a university education, least of all, the daughter of a grocer and the son of a seaman cook who ran the pantry at Castille. They smashed through gender, class, ecclesiastical and so many other barriers and really did make a difference. Which is really what we all hope to do.

Perhaps it has something to do with the era in which they rose to power, when the world was more or less divided on just about everything. Likewise these two politicians commanded divisive feelings, in that very love-hate, left-right, us-them sort of way.

To some they were heroes and salvational, to others they were diabolical tyrannical monsters. And that is precisely where their appeal lay. It is impossible to be lukewarm or worse still, not to have an opinion about either. So, it was only natural that any film made about them would receive the same sort of mixed, divided reviews that their lives also provoked.

Even now, although in poor health and not entirely in command of their mental faculties, they still hover over our lives and are playing the same game with death as they did with life.

I don’t have the space to go into the reasons why I disagreed with the criticism of The Iron Lady here and now. Suffice to say that I didn’t walk out of the movie theatre and feel that Thatcher was ridiculed, short-changed or made to look like a rusty rather than an iron lady. Quite the contrary. Similarly with Dear Dom. I was always intrigued by, almost fond of Mintoff, in the way I am fond of many I don’t always agree with or endorse fully. Liking someone because and in spite of their capacity for human error, is so much more rewarding to liking them because they strive for perfection.

Mintoff (like Thatcher) never cared about being liked or hated. People pleasing wasn’t his thing. He took on the Church 60 years ago, in super Catholic Malta for reasons which still exist today. He didn’t kowtow to the British but held his own and with quick-witted panache, a sense of humour, flippancy, style and a colossal presence and personality which no other Prime Minister has since matched.

I was especially impressed with the elegance, clarity and precision with which Mintoff came across at the negotiating table with the British versus the rather tacky way he comes across later on when rabble rousing in his native Maltese.

I think Lino Spiteri was spot on when he said that in the end, it was his paternalistic style of leadership that was his downfall. Mintoff pushed boundaries and educated the people.

He strove to give the working classes equal opportunities, he clamoured for change but remained stuck in his own working class time warp, failing to realise that once these people got out of their rut, there was nowhere else to go and certainly no turning back.

Pierre Ellul’s film is a must-have in your movie library. It may be hard for Mintoff’s immediate family to be objective and they have every right to their opinion. But trust me when I tell you this film does not do a disservice to the man. It is a testament to his multitalented, often misguided and misunderstood brilliance, as the most powerful, most controversial and consequential man Malta has seen yet and may never see again.

michelaspiteri@gmail.com

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