TITLE: Vera Drake

CERTIFICATE: 12

CAST: Imelda Staunton, Richard Graham, Eddie Marsan, Anna Keaveney, Alex Kelly,
Daniel Mays, Phil Davis

DIRECTOR: Mike Leigh

RUNNING TIME: 125 minutes

RELEASED: 7 January 2005

INTRODUCTION
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Vera Drake is the hardworking mother or a working class family in 1950’s London- a London still recovering from the ravages of war. Stockings and certain foodstuffs are still in short supply, many women are working to provide for their families after the loss of fathers and husbands, and many people still live in buildings that can only be described as slums.

Vera’s quite lucky though. She’s not rich, but she has a comfortable home, albeit only a few rooms, a loving and devoted husband, and two children who are both working. Her husband works for his brother in a garage, fixing up cars, her son works in a gentleman’s outfitters, and her daughter Ethel works in a factory testing lightbulbs.

Vera herself works as a cleaner for a wealthy family, but as well as that she finds time to be a devoted wife and mother, making sure her family is happy and well looked after. She also cares for her elderly mother, popping in to change the sheets and cook meals, and often pops in on her sick neighbors to make a comforting cup of tea.

However, Vera has another job – she ‘helps out’ pregnant women and girls by helping them to induce a miscarriage, a practice which was illegal in the 1950s (although rich people had access to ‘therapeutic’ abortions if a psychiatrist would attest that the mental health of the mother was at stake). She doesn’t accept any payment for this – in her mind, she is simply helping out those unfortunate enough to get them into trouble, and she does this with a cheery smile and comforting words.

However, one night a girl who has used Vera’s services becomes ill and almost dies, and the police become involved. Vera now risks losing everything – her family, her friends, and the respect of her peers.

LIFE IN THE 1950S
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I think it’s important in this review to give a little background of life in the period for the working class.

Foods and certain luxury items were still scarce after the war, and many men were unemployed, as a result of women taking over the jobs while they fought for their country. Many people were poor, and many were uneducated. It was still common at the time for people not to be able to read and write well, as many young teenagers had left school during the war in order to work to support their family.

Marriage was still very much respected –Nowadays attitudes are very different, but in those times, courtships were long and chaste, with marriage regarded as the only situation in which it was acceptable to have sex and have children. Women who were married were expected to take on the roles of wife and mother with a smile, and most families had 4 or 5 children, (with many lost along the way due to sickness, or poverty). Even after having several children, wives were still expected to roll over and play, and contraception was not widely available, so many families had more mouths than they could afford to feed.

Sex education in schools was not as widely available as it is today. Many young girls would not have had the first idea how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and sex wasn’t something that was talked about in the home. Many girls got pregnant as a result of ignorance.

The attitude towards women who had sex and had children without getting married was very different – it was frowned upon. Women who found themselves pregnant were encouraged to marry the child’s father, and many women were disowned by their families either for refusing to marry someone unsuitable, or simply because it was not possible to marry. Many more were shunted into unmarried mothers homes, where they were virtually imprisoned until giving birth, and then had their babies taken away from them at only a few hours old, never to be seen again.

ABORTION LAW IN THE 1950S
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The law regarding the practice of aiding a woman to miscarry at the time was under the Offences Against The Person Act of 1861

“59. Whosoever shall unlawfully supply or procure any poison or other noxious thing, or any instrument or thing whatsoever, knowing that the same is intended to be unlawfully used or employed with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable ... to be kept in penal servitude ....”

The law was changed in 1929 when the Infant Life (Preservation) Act was passed, when it was then permitted for a woman to have a medical abortion if necessary to save her life, so long as the unborn baby was less than 28weeks.

In 1938, The Bourne Ruling in 1938, made when the case of Rex v. Bourne set a precedent by aborting the pregnancy of a victim of rape, then made it possible for a woman to obtain an abortion for psychological reasons.

However, a legal abortion under these laws was still only available to those who had the money to visit or be attended by a doctor, something most working class women would not have access to. Susan in the film has £100 towards the cost of her abortion, an amount that is equivalent, (according to the converter at http://tinyurl.com/3du43l ) to at least £2,294 today.

In this situation, its easy to see why a young girl who found herself pregnant, or a mother with too many mouths to feed already, would take desperate and illegal measures to get rid of an unwanted child – often endangering their own life in the process.

DIRECTION
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Vera Drake was directed by Mike Leigh. Leigh takes a rather unique approach to filmmaking. He doesn’t work to a script, and the lines are entirely improvised by the actors and actresses, who are introduced to each other gradually and work together to ‘find’ their character, their mannerisms, and their personalities. This works well, as it gives a much greater depth of realism to the film – the moments where we see the family together work wonderfully, as they seem like a real family.

SET, PROPS, AND COSTUME DESIGN
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The sets used in the film were very convincing, and really made me feel as if the film was made in the 1950s. There were buildings still bearing bomb damage, big 1950s police vehicles, plain and functional civic buildings and comfortable yet shabby homes. The homes looked genuinely lived in – tables with scratches on the woodwork, windows dusty with smoke from nearby factories, faded floral linen.

The costumes were also very convincing – from the functional working clothes worn by Vera, to the ragged night dress worn by one of the poorer girls Vera ministered to. There were also more elaborate costumes, worn by Vera’s employers, and by the people taking high tea in a classy restaurant.

ACTING
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The acting in this film was magnificent, especially considering that there was no screenplay and no script. Imelda Staunton was very convincing as Vera – warm, loving, with a kind word and a smile for everyone. Even in the most trying situations, while crying and obviously distressed, Vera still retains her habit of calling everyone ‘Dear’ and of speaking only in the kindest terms of everyone. She’s a real mother figure.

Richard Graham plays Vera’s loving husband George – a friendly affable man, and seemingly a quieter person altogether than his wife. The scenes between these two are truly touching, and they work well together as a pair, especially with the actors playing their children.

Sally Hawkins plays the role of Susan, the daughter of Vera’s employers, the Wells family, who finds herself pregnant after a rape. She plays the role brilliantly, particularly when showing her concern for herself and her family if they should find out. Her role in the plot is to illustrate the class divide – she has the money and the opportunity to resolve the situation in a much safer way than Veras clients .

CONCLUSION
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Although the film is about a very controversial subject, Mike Leigh steers very clear of shoving an opinion , one way or the other, down our throats. Letting the story unfold slowly, he allows us to make up our own minds as to whether abortion is right or wrong, and as to whether Vera is doing a good deed, or was in fact a criminal. He deals with the issue sensitively, emphasizing not just the abortions that make up the central plot, but also allowing us a glimpse into 1950s family life, and into the class divide that was still very much in evidence at the time.

While the film is in some places quite sad, and maybe even a little upsetting, its not generally a depressing film. There are a good few happy moments in it too, and it comes out well balanced and deeply interesting . Its certainly a great film to watch, and I would definitely watch it again .

I also consider myself lucky to live in a time where contraception and education are readily available - but although the number of backstreet abortions performed in the UK has reduced dramatically since changes to the law in 1967 , around 19MILLION are carried out globally each year, with some 68,000 deaths as a result.

This is available on DVD for just under £6 at Amazon.co.uk. I however watched it on VHS, so I cant comment on the quality of the DVD extras, although they do include the trailer and a cast and crew documentary.

Links:
www.VeraDrake.com -official movie site.
www.amazon.co.uk - to buy.

I used www.wikipedia.com to check my facts on abortion law and the statistics used in this review.