Vera Drake
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Movie Reviews of Vera Drake
Movie Review: Overwhelming
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an important movie about the moral dilemma posed by abortion. Abortions, legal or illegal, have always been performed, and women from all social strata, have always found themselves in need of a helping hand, whether the law upheld that kind of help at particular times or not. The movie shows this by juxtaposing the women whom Vera Drake helps, who cannot pay for abortion, with those who can pay to have an abortion done by a doctor, or by showing that in some cases at least, abortion cannot be totally repudiated. We witness two such cases in the film as one woman becomes pregnant, we understand, after a man forces himself on her, or as another woman, who already has seven children, and whose husband just doesn't understand how consuming this is, cannot have an eighth. The film convincingly shows how women have to deal with their problems in secrecy, in back chambers, and continue to live life as usual and pretend that these things don't happen.
Vera Drake is a kind and generous woman, too kind and too generous, the movie shows, for the world surrounding her, the cruelty of which is encapsulated in the woman who procures "clients" for her, pocketing money from these women without Vera's knowledge, as well as doing Vera the favour of selling her various food products (such as sugar) of which, we understand, there was a shortage in those postwar years.
Imelda Staunton gives an overwhelming performance, exhibiting Vera's kindness, reliability, generosity, naivete, heartbreak, sense of shame, and, finally, despair, with great credibility. I agree with some of the other reviewers who state that the movie doesn't try to take sides. And yet I think that the police detective and the woman police constable's kindness to Vera suggest that they feel sympathy for her and even understand what she did and why she did it. I especially felt that as a woman, the female PC knows that this is a problem all women are in danger of encountering, and this could be a pointer towards interpretation of the movie. I don't know whether this is what the director intended to suggest, but I think that this is something that came across, the way I saw it at least. This is possibly one aspect of the strength of this film, that it allows for this interpretation.
All performances were riveting and convincing, the cinematography superb, the 50s austerity convincingly recreated. As some reviewers have already noted, the film is quite bleak and depressing. It is supposed to be, given the subject that it treats. It is a matter of the viewer coming prepared for a film which tackles a hard to swallow, painful, yet central,social issue. The series of abortions that Vera performs is emotionally draining, though not graphic, and the end is demoralizing. But all the more realistic and powerful in being so.
I highly recommend the film, provided the viewer knows what to expect. It's not meant to be a feel good movie, but a movie to make one think and debate. It may depress you to some extent, but I don't think it will leave you indifferent. Personally, I felt that the film is subtly but convincingly suggesting that there is no use trying to pretend that abortions don't happen / shouldn't happen,won't happen, and that the law and society do not / did not have the compassion necessary to deal with this problem faced by women. You may come to a different conclusion, but the point is that the film is strong enough to provoke discussion and possibly disagreement amongst its viewers.
Movie Review: Another Masterpiece from Mike Leigh
Summary: 5 Stars
A great movie from the consistently excellent Mike Leigh, who gave us Life is Sweet, Naked, Secrets and Lies, and Topsy-Turvy. Leigh is one of the most ungimmicky directors around, and such discretion is a key part of Vera Drake's success. The camera is almost always at eye level or thereabouts, giving the entire picture a very human perspective. The story unfolds in a very straightforward manner. The only diversions are the story of the budding romance between Vera's daughter and a veteran, and the efforts of her brother and sister-in-law to start a family. Both serve well as narrative foils for the development of the central drama of Vera's efforts to help young women and the cost she must bear for doing so. Here's a strange fact from IMDb: "Except for Imelda Staunton, none of the actors knew that the film was about abortion until their characters find out. Each actors only knew what concerned their characters." Here's another one: "Filmed with no script, the film went on to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay for 2005 Oscar. Mike Leigh said that he "had to prepare the screenplay so it can be sent out to academy members. But actually the screenplay that was nominated doesn't exist. The film is the screenplay."
The film being an almost complete success, I can only assume that this strategy was a significant factor that helped make it work. It certainly contributed to the scene of Vera's initial questioning, as well as the extraordinary exchange between Philip Davis and Daniel Mays following Vera's detainment. Every performance is masterful, although Imelda Staunton's certainly does stand out, and not awarding her the Oscar for best actress makes about as much sense as withholding the Oscar from The Aviator for best picture. Lesley Manville is wonderful as the begging-to-be-despised Mrs. Wells and Simon Chandler is equally good as her abiding and yet complacent husband.
Its tremendous aesthetic achievement notwithstanding, Vera Drake is an extremely difficult film to watch. The various abortions performed on wretched women in dilapidated surroundings are particularly miserable, and for all Vera's humanity and good will she seemed to me remarkably unconcerned with their psychological distress. I don't think this quite squares with the many, many instances of her kindness in almost every other situation. Nor do I buy the usual chatter about the non-political nature of the film. Where Leigh stands on the issue of abortion is perfectly plain, and the fact that he endows the title character with a naive saintliness right out of a child's picture book of holy women robs the film of any chance at dealing honestly with the inner life of his heroine. Compare this with Claude Chabrol's "Une affaire de femmes," a movie as equally difficult to watch, but which assumes a great deal more moral complexity in the main character. That Leigh's film is a greater success in terms of its story, its acting and its simple mise en scene is a testament to his and his actors' achievement, but let's not kid ourselves about the politics. Highly recommended.
And to the suits over at New Line, please, please release Leigh's earlier film 'Naked' on DVD. Surely an organization that can get out another Martin Lawrence fiasco and an Adam Sandler Nice & Naughty Gift Pack can find the resources to issue an authentic masterpiece.
Movie Review: "I help them out when they can't manage."
Summary: 5 Stars
This quietly powerful film tells the story of a 1950's middle-class English family, as it is torn apart by the actions of one woman. Vera Drake, the mother is her family's emotional center. A small woman, with bright blue eyes and always a kind word, Vera bustles through her days doing odd favors for housebound invalids, always making the world a bit friendlier for the lonely souls she meets along the way. But Vera has another side, although even this task is carried out with her usual gentle reserve: Vera helps women with troublesome pregnancies. For years, Vera has visited the women who need her services. Inevitably one girl becomes deathly ill and the police show up on Vera's doorstep just as her family is celebrating her daughter's engagement. Vera instinctively knows why the authorities are there, but has never spoken a word about her activities to her husband or grown children. Devastated over the girl's illness, Vera breaks down, barely able to speak to the inspector or to tell her husband what she has been doing.
Filled with character actors whose faces reveal their every emotion, this film is brilliantly acted, more implied by what isn't said than the damning words of jurisprudence. Imelda Staunton plays a remarkable nuanced Vera Drake, a simple woman, devoted to her family. Confronted by her actions, Vera literally cannot cope with the overwhelming emotions, as though she hasn't thought past her actions. The family is unbelieving, offering various reactions: "It's dirty."; "If you can't feed 'em, you can't love 'em, can you?"; "If she told me I would've put a stop to it." The film makes no judgments, other than the obvious illegality of Vera's actions; the scenes speak for themselves, women preparing for Vera's ministrations, each with her own burden, fear, guilt, a sense of the forbidden, furtively taking Vera into their dank, moldy flats. In contrast, a wealthy young woman has other resources for an unwanted pregnancy, a legal recourse, with a psychiatrist giving approval and a doctor performing the procedure. This one scene points to the vast differences of privilege and poverty.
The cinematography dramatizes the danger and fear, stark images of Vera trudging up and down flights of stairs in dreary tenements, comforting frightened women, working as a domestic in the homes of the wealthy, the inspectors converging on Vera's home, large men, their overcoats flapping, as imposing as a procession of clerics and just as intimidating, although the police treat the woman with every courtesy. Vera Drake is a stunning film, an unbiased look at the 1950's and the somewhat draconian measures of the law, a fascinating depiction of people caught in circumstances that overwhelm them and the measures they resort to for relief. Luan Gaines/ 2005.
Movie Review: Superb ensemble acting - typical of a Mike Leigh film
Summary: 5 Stars
Like all his films, Mike Leigh is writer/director, though in reality his approach is to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, and let his actors build their characters and improvise. It works wonders in 'Vera Drake,' especially in the way that process has brought a sense of cohesiveness to the on-screen Drake family. You'd swear Imelda Stanton (as lead Vera Drake) and Alex Kelly (as daughter Ethel) were real-life mother and daughter. Similarly, you'd stake a bet that Phil Davis and Adrian Scarborough (as Vera's husband Stan and his younger brother Frank) were blood brothers off-screen. They look alike, act alike, and demonstrate brotherly loyalty to each other in a manner we can all identify with. Most importantly, without any Hollywood affections, we clearly see that the heart of the Drake family is the loving realtionship between husband and wife. These are two real people who, 27 years after their wedded union, count their blessings each night at whatever fate drew them together. It all seems palpably real.
The subtle parallel that Leigh draws here is difference between how to handle an unwanted pregnancy in 1950 for the 'haves' vs. the 'have-nots.' Those with 100 - 150 pounds can go the 'official' obstetrician route. Those who can't are steered furtively towards in-home practitioners like Vera Drake. There's an obvious difference in the cleanliness and efficacy of the medical care; but Leigh counterbalances that by comparing the cold, callous approach of the official route vs. Drake's tender care. We see rich girl Susan (Sally Hawkins) go through a process of, frankly, extreme humiliation - secretly raped, forced to divulge the details, shipped to a psychiatrist, her sanity questioned, sequestered alone in a remote, austere building. In short, she's subjected to torrents of guilt and blame. Leigh's message seems to be: this is the 'better' approach?
The acting in 'Vera Drake' is superb on every level. Ms. Hawkins is one representative example. She's in two 2004 releases I've now seen back to back: this one and 'Layer Cake.' In 'Cake,' she plays a low-level gangster named 'Slasher'...about as far removed from her role in 'Drake' as you can possibly imagine. When I saw those two roles pop up back-to-back on her IMDB filmography, it stunned me. How could that possibly be the same person? What spectacular range.
Movie Review: Vera Drake plays fair
Summary: 5 Stars
It's hard to imagine an "abortion film" that presents a fairly even-handed view, or at least would be seen as such by the polarized factions eager to cram their politics down your throat, but I think "Vera Drake" does a good job keeping perspective.
Vera is a interesting figure, a dowdy, kindly, but almost naïve about the gravity of what it is she's doing, namely, "helping" to induce miscarriages among the impoverished young girls, in her threadbare community. She's definitely not the callous, rubber gloved, bloody smocked-wearing back-alley abortionist, who lights a cigarette and says "next" after doing his evil deed. Yet, in spite of her well-intentioned motivations, she takes no real responsibility for what happens to the girls she administers a unsanitary "home-cooked" douche to, and watching the understandably terrified girls receive this treatment is meant make us shift in our seats. However, Vera recives a rude awakening when (SPOILER ALERT) she eventually does time for her actions, and she meets those who have also performed similar abortions (but for profit) and appear to have no remorse for the girls they've injured or even killed. She also finds out her "friend" that set up her meetings, has been charging the girls, and pocketing the money.
Mike Lee sets Vera Drake in post-war England, in a time when a naïve, young girls could still find themselves "ruined for life" in the eyes of the community and by their own families, for having babies out of wedlock. The gravity of their situation is illustrated by their very willingness to have these dangerous, painful, and illegal procedures performed on themselves.
The men of the time are clearly a mixed lot as well. Vera's own son is unable to forgive his mothers actions, but earlier is seen "eyeing-up" the young girls at a community dance as potential sexual conquests. This scene resonates later, because in spite of his moral indignation toward mom, he could easily be the father of one of the girls she treats.
Many of the reviews here, appear to me to have been written by people who haven't actually seen the film, and just want to spout off. My opinion is see it for yourself, judge for yourself, and allow others to do the same. It's a highly complex and thoughtful treatment of the issue at hand.