Vera Drake [DVD]

Really like this film!!

It is a very good movie but I am not sure if it is based on a true story.

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.

Really good portrayal of life back then, before laws were changed too! A most debatable subject, even more so in current times! One should never pass judgment, for each case has entirely different circumstances and possible outcomes. It would have been nice to know what happened to the other woman, the one who knew Vera since school, without spoiling the film. Personally, I felt The other woman should have been the one charged with the wrong doing and a more lenient sentence on poor Vera who seems to have copped the lot, when in fact is a product of hard times and empathy, turning out in a way, a victim herself of crime! Empathy is the key to the argument! Like I said a debatable subject and I already know the opposition. I found the film, interesting from different angles, thought provoking and sad too from different perspectives. I would recommend this film, even to put forward a different perspective in harder times. Cheers X

Imelda, Imelda, Imelda xx

This wasn't what I expected an d I agree with what someone else said in that it was very much; here is Vera being lovely, here she is performing backstreet abortions, here she is getting arrested, here she is going to jail. But on reflection, is that a bad thing?I think I expected, considering the subject matter, a big exploration of the politics, morals, differences between the classes at the time etc. but I think the point was that we just see it for what it is (like looking through a window into their lives, nothing more) and draw our own conclusions.There is the other story line of the well-to-do young lady getting an abortion and shows why and how she goes about it and that really makes the film speak for itself, how she is shown to play the system to get the abortion, how difficult it was, the lack of compassion and the expense of it, which the poor could never hope to raise.I do think the scenes where Vera is arrested, and cries and cries and cries is excessive - I did get a bit bored - (although for those who say she cries out of guilt, I disagreed, I think it's clear from when she is arrested that she fears for her family, having upset them, the shame she has brought on them but it is also very, very clear that she felt a strong compulsion to help those young girls which overshadowed her desire to not break the law).I think I expected a grittier, more action film (maybe showing how she got into it and a bit more discussion about all the issues surrounding it) and at first I felt disappointed by it but in its own way, its simple, clean way it was a good film and a (mostly) enjoyable one. It's also true to the times it set in which is interesting in itself and the other characters are interesting to watch.

amazing acting

I saw the trailer of Vera Drake on one of my dvd's and I thought it looked good because I like Imelda Staunton but I thought it was a film about a lady who was young girls with problem out of the kindness of her heart. But I didn't know it was about illegal abortions and I felt very silly to ask if I can have it for Christmas and I had to apologies to my uncle who got it for me but he wasn't my fault he know I like Imelda Staunton.