Yes, the main character gives an outstanding performance, but the movie was only average otherwise. The movie moves slowly and does not get anywhere fast. You follow this woman as she goes about her daily life. You see glimpses of her acquaintances here and there, but their story lines are not very deep. You know nothing about them, who they are, or why their characters behave the way they do. Her family life is blah. Her daughter is so insecure she has absolutely no life outside of her parents. The movie is very choppy. You see her husband at work. Her son at work. Her daughter sitting on a couch. Her Brother in law at work. Her sister in law completely self absorbed and always wanting more. Then you are introduced to other characters that you have no background on, leaving you wondering who they are and why they are there. Then abruptly she gets arrested. Her character who had been so with it during the whole first part of the movie now loses it. She has no emotion other than shock. She signs a confession after the police just got done telling her she has the right to not say anything. From the moment of her arrest she has no emotion at all. She practically cannot function. Which is unlike her "so with it" character. While in jail she asks other inmates, who are in for the same thing how long they are serving, but there is no reason why she is asking. She doesn't use the information to her advantage to ask for a lighter sentence. The movie then just seems to end. Overall, the movie does not have any language to worry about. It is rated R for the subject matter (abortion) only. The two sex scenes are very mild compared to what movies show these days. It just was not that great of a movie to give 5 stars to. Maybe if you have been in the same situation as the "helper" or as the "women needing the service" then you would think this is a wonderful movie? I just cannot see it from that point of view because I have never been there in either capacity. Other than that, and based entirely on the story alone, I can only give it three stars.
I also have to add that when the doctor tells the mother of the girl who almost died that he "see's this every weekend", it leads me to believe that every one of Vera Drakes abortions has made all of the girls sick. Because her aborts are done every Friday at 5:00. Meaning and implying that the emergencies he sees every weekend are Vera Drakes doing. Besides how does she know what concoction leads to a miscarriage? How does she know this is the magic potion that will do the trick? She does say that she had this done to herself when she was young, but how would she know what chemicals to use? The movie needed to go into more history and detail so that the viewer would have more to go on.
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Excellent movie
Added 5/15/2009
This movie isn't typically one I would pick up off of the shelf to view. It was a requirement for a women's humanities class that I was taking at school. I was surprised. I actually enjoyed the movie. Sometimes it is a bit hard to understand because of the accents, but all in all, I enjoyed it.
My movie was in excellent condition and I received must more quickly than was quoted. Thanks for a great product!
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Tea and Tears
Added 11/1/2008
I am a sucker for sad movies, especially ones in which really nice people are treated badly. As such this one should have sent me out for more Kleenex. But, gee, Vera cries enough for everyone and I left the film, dry-eyed, but scratching my head, saying "What? Is that it? After the looooong buildup and we don't even know what happens next?" I felt sort of cheated. The only tear I shed was at the horribly tense Christmas family gathering after everyone knew Vera's secret, when the new son-in-law to be said that this had been the best Christmas he had ever had. This was one of the nice human touches that the film has.
I found the first part of the film to be quite interesting. The lives
of the working class English family in the post WWII years was very lovingly shown. You could tell that the people had survived very hard times and the understated way they discussed the friends they had lost in the war was quite moving.
I think my main complaint is that, once Vera is confronted with her crime, she breaks down into utter misery and this one tone last through the rest of the film---at least an hour. Unrelieved crying takes its toll on the viewer which is why I just couldn't sustain my sympathy for the character. Dramatically, it's a bad choice. Then...the ending...After we have lived through all the tears and the worse-than-expected verdict...what? All we see is the family, back home in the dark house, mutely surviving. This is not a conclusion that gives any kind of resolution or satisfaction to the viewer. It's like sitting through three fourths of a Beethovan symphony and then the conductor puts down his baton and walks off, without the resolution of the hieghtened emotions. Again, bad drama.
Another complaint I have is that the characters were so one dimensional. Vera seems to be a saint and the family seems to be the picture of goodness and contentment ...but then why is the daughter so emotionally retarded? And, more importantly...in the 20 years that Vera has been doing this, how many other girls had the same results as the one who landed in the hospital? Since the others didn't know Vera's name, she was never traced. She treated the procedure with the same sense of seriousness as one would for pulling a tooth. There was no followup for the girls. Was she really that ignorant? If so, this should have been demonstrated in the first part of the film and it wasn't. She didn't take money for the jobs but she did accept the sardines and sweets that were still big treats in postwar England.
Yes, Imelda Staunton did a great acting job and deserved the Oscar nomination. For her sake, if not for ours, the film should have been better.
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Vera Drake was a highly praised 2004 film, written and directed by Mike Leigh, that detailed the cruelties and hypocrisies of England's anti-abortion laws back in post-World War Two 1950. It won the Best Film Award at the Venice Film Festival and from the British Independent Film Awards, and deservedly so. Yet, despite its `large' backdrop, the film is one of the most intimate character studies ever put to celluloid. Drake (Imelda Staunton) is an aging London housewife, with a husband, Stan (Phil Davis), and two grown children, Ethel and Sid (Alex Kelly and Daniel Mays), who goes out of her way to help girls who are pregnant have homemade abortions. She charges no money for her services, and is sent on the sly, by acquaintances who do charge money to be recommended to her, although Drake does not know this. She is a prim lady who calls and holds everyone and everything `dear'.... This film holds some truck with Alfred Hitchcock's films that focused on wrongly accused men, most notably his The Wrong Man, with Henry Fonda, but this film ends on a lighter touch. Life goes on, and, in a few years, Vera Drake will be free, yet there will have been far less scrupulous characters who will have taken her place. Laws against abortion ALWAYS target the poor, not the rich, and then society condemns the poor for having `too many kids', even as it denies them the means to not have those despised `bastards'.
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Neither pro or con abortion, the film leaves the final judgement to the viewer
Added 6/24/2008
This is a carefully crafted film that captures well the struggles of the working class, the division of class in English society, social control of society, and the strength of the social and family networks that allow poor working folks to survive in the face of adversity. These complex themes are explored through a straight forward, non-complicated narrative that is enhanced with outstanding performances by the entire cast. Thefilm is neither pro-abortion or con-abortion. It offers a realistic view of the process and the players and leaves judgement to the viewer.
The compelling story and main character, Vera, keep you engaged. Vera is a cheerful, giving, warm, compassionate, loving person who is the keystone of her family and social network. Phil Davis plays her husband Stan and his performance is also of the highest level. This hardworking and honest housekeeper performs abortions for poor girls for free, seeing her actions as helpful.
The film is certainly more about social class and privilege as much as it is about illegal abortions. We see both poor and rich girls becoming pregnant and we see wealthy girls using the established medical community to assist them with an unwanted pregnancy whereas we see poor girls faced with fewer options. Likewise we see society physicians willing to perform an abortion if a rich girl happens to have suicide in the family and mentions that she is so stressed that she is thinking about suicide. The physicians are protected but the poor abortionist working to help poor girls in trouble faces considerable punishment.
Yet, the film is carefully made and the rich pregnant girl in the story evokes as much sympathy as do the pregnant poor girls in the story. They are all victims of a social structure that punishes the female if she is pregnant but is not concerned with the father of the child, be he a rich or poor man.
The police act as agents of social control in the film and yet they were highly personal and sympathetic characters. The humanity of the chief detective shone through and it was obvious that this man tries to do his duty within the confines of the law yet feels compassion for those caught in the criminal justice legal system.
So if sexism, classism are oppressive social structures, how to the poor women survive? This film would indicate that strong families and strong social networks are key to survival. We are introduced to no less than 23 characters in the first 30 minutes of the film and yet we quickly see how they are structured in the larger social network.
Vera is a vital part of her family and social network and yet when she gets into trouble, the social network first reacts with shock but then rebounds and offers the emotional and fiscal support needed to overcome the current crisis.
This is a thoughtful film. Each character is complex and well developed. There is a strong sense of justice as a human developed and delivered process. The court system seemed to impart justice, for Vera was indeed an abortionist, no matter how much you feel for this loving motherly little lady. No characters were stereotypes or cartoons. Even the arresting police are seen as part of the social fabric in which they play a role in the most humane manner possible. After you see the film I suspect you will reflect on how well conceptualized, written, directed and performed was this dramatic presentation. Imelda Staunton's dramatic skills are immense, as were all the actors. In an odd way, this film about abortion makes you feel better about the human condition, primarily because when the forces of justice prevail, it is our common humanity and those that love us that allow us to absorb the punishment and move on.
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