Movie Review

Vera Drake

Pro-choice or Pro-Life people will find many questions raised and a tragic story told in Vera Drake, Mike Leigh?s new film about a wonderfully kind and good woman who goes down as a villain. It stands as one of the finest achievements of this year, a movie that tells its story honestly and with no sentimentality. Leigh never supports or attacks the practice of abortions, but what he does do is raise them as a topic of discussion, and even more surprisingly, gives us a character who is extremely sympathetic no matter what your motivations are.

The character is Vera (Imelda Staunton), an old woman with a heart of gold. She spends her days cleaning houses and taking care of the sick, and then comes home to take care of her war hero husband and two children. She is also not above inviting a young man, named Reg (Eddie Marsan), down on his luck to a home cooked meal at her house. Her selfless dedication to people is heartwarming, always offering tea and comfort with a polite smile that would warm anybody?s day.

What?s so staggering about this film and the issue of abortion is that it can make a woman as good and kind as this into a villain. In addition to these services, Vera also brings about miscarriages or as she calls it "helping young girls out.? Only when one of the girls lands in the hospital with internal damage, Vera is arrested and charged. The film doesn?t go into it much, but we do know that in 1950?s England, the process of producing miscarriages was illegal.

Leigh never does shy away from the act in question. The abortion procedure is very crude, done by using carbolic soap, a cheese grader, and a syringe among other things, and Vera?s demeanor during this procedure is very impersonal. I found this to be very compelling. She reassures her patients that they will be okay, but is very reluctant in actually comforting them. Could this have something to do with guilt? We also see the other side of all this, which gives us more of an idea of Verb?s hesitancy. In an expertly drawn out subplot, a drunken boyfriend rapes the daughter of one of the women Vera cleans for. Embarrassed and dead set on not having the baby, she goes to a clinic to get an abortion, but must go through a psychiatric evaluation first. Her mental history, sexual history, and family history are all brought to question. Maybe the less contact Vera has with her patients the better off she feels they are.

As the film reaches its final act, we are treated to a heart-wrenching display where this woman?s good name and nature are dragged through the mud. Vera is not a hero or an advocate for abortion. She is a simple, elderly old woman who has always been drawn to doing what she believes is right: helping people. Is what she is doing illegal? Absolutely, but do you understand her principles for doing it? Absolutely. So as the condemnations of both the judicial system and some of the members of her family rain down around her, you can?t help but cry.

Part of that goes to the outstanding Imelda Staunton, who if the Academy does not award at the end of the year, I will never watch the Oscars again. Her work in the beginning of the film will remind you of your grandma, but her best stuff comes later. She captures so boldly and devastatingly the emotions of this character. Her look pleads, it apologizes, it begs for forgiveness, and it bleeds with shame. I doubt that any other actress this year will give a performance as powerful as this one. I also doubt that Vera Drake will be denied several other nominations at the end of the year. This movie is powerhouse stuff all the way. Bravo Mike Leigh.

Craig's Grade: A

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%