Meryl Streep may have won an Oscar for her performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but a Russian-dubbed version got a bit creative with interpreting her award-winning role, the Guardian reports.
A pirated translation of The Iron Lady, dubbed over by a monotone Russian man, fooled one of the country’s top film critics at Russian newspaper Kommersant. The critic, who did not realize the interpretation was off script, gave a positive review and even quoted parts of the fake film. The translated version depicts Thatcher as a “bloodthirsty, Hitler-admiring leader, whose fondest desire is to destroy the working class,” according to the paper. In one scene, when prompted to explain what she would do as prime minister, the Russian voiceover responds, “Crush the working class, crush the scum, the yobs.”
The dramatic changes are extreme, including a scene in which Thatcher insists on deliberately starting the Falklands war. Off-script translations of films are nothing new in Russia, where one popular translator, known as Goblin, made a name for himself by making entertaining voiceovers of movies. But this latest off-color version may be the first time a Russian translator has created a stir like this.
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