Review of Vera Drake (2004) by Manny C — 12 Jan 2011

Meet Vera Drake, a housewife in London circa the 1950's. She's a predominantly ebullient woman, always singing and humming top herself. She likes to be useful. She works as the cleaning woman for an aristocratic household, giving the kind of care she'd give her own, and returns home daily to cook clean and lovingly support her husband, son and daughter. She sees invalids daily to make sure they're comfortable and makes them a nice cup of tea. She also performs illegal abortions and least once or twice a week.

As played by Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake is a movie that will blow you away. Vera performs illegal abortions for no money at all, only a desire to help the poor girls who can't help themselves, unlike the rich who go to private clinics, even though abortion wasn't legal in England until 1967. She has no idea her friend Lily (Ruth Sheen) charges 2 pounds and 2 shillings. When a girl nearly dies, the police get wind of Vera, and she's arrested and sent to jail.

British director Mike Leigh is a master at what I call quiet epics. For further proof, just check out Naked, or his best film, Secrets and Lies, or Happy-Go-Lucky, his masterwork from 2008. Leigh makes his films by using a most unconventional technique: he has the actors create their characters through a combination of method acting and improvisation. The cast literally lived like their characters for weeks, as Leigh gave them bits of the story as it unfolded. In the case of Vera Drake, Leigh hit another home run.

The film could have easily gone to the level of soap opera, but instead it rises to the level of artistry. Much of that is because of Staunton, who works miracles in miniature. She and Leigh masterfully contrast Vera's sweet home life with her secret endeavors. Thankfully, Leigh doesn't moralize, letting us see the methods Vera uses to induce a miscarriage with unflinching earnestness. This is truly one of the film's of the last ten years that is unmissable and unforgettable.