Vera Drake

For the first time I watched the British film in 2004 Vera Drake which is directed by Mike Leigh, I did not finish it because the kindness of middle age woman with smiley face seems to be annoying. With paying no attention to Vera's happy and decent world, I have missed many things in the film as I stop watching it. As researching for journal assignment for British Cinema, I had decided to watch it closely one more time. Since the scene of police arriving at Vera's house for the issue of illegal abortion, the film magically makes me stay with it while the feeling toward the main character as she is my elder relative who emotionally faces problem is created which being a part of her family makes me finished up the film.

Vera Drake is a story of a working class woman in London who represents the conflict between decent values and social mores in 1950 under the issue of abortion which also links to the class structure in British society. There are many people both back then and now think of the back street abortions and the abortionist as the immoral. The film presents the issue with openly arguable without taking stances or preaching the audiences. It actually dramatically portrays the importance of family and faith within people. The film successfully reveals all themes with director's improvisation technique and the role of leading female character in the film. In this essay, there are discussions about the conflictions and themes as well as the filming of director and the main characters since by combining these together the film become one of the best British film.

According to Mike Leigh, the movie is about the present even though it is set in the post war Britain, many issues in the past can be linked to the modern day. The first one is the morality versus legality with there is an argument whether what Vera does is a saint or a sin. The intellectual mystery is that what causes a plain woman to risk her life to challenge the state. The film naturally portrays the conflictions behind the strong faith of the main character. Vera represents the decent citizen who the society needs but ironically her goodness is against the law. The film clearly suggests that the society's rule is over the individual judgment to set the mores. Ironically, as abortion was still illegal during that period, the legal doctors and nurses represent the decent who follow the law while the illegal abortionists symbolizes the criminal even thought they do what is considered as immorality as abortion. That might be the reason Vera believes for doing the right thing as abortion is not really a crime if performed in the hospital. The society does not accept her free choice because in the film she is unaware of the consequences which affect other people as well as her own self and family. After Vera is arrested, the rest of the narrative deals with the reactions of family, friends, the police, and the courts to the news that a woman regarded as the soul of goodness is a criminal.

Nearly everyone in the movie holds abortion as a necessary evil, not as a rational choice although it was legalized in Britain at the end of the Sixties it is still a moral issue. Nevertheless, the movie refuses to clearly take one side of the issue. The conclusion of the film is none preaching and argumentative. The conflict of social class structure takes place over the heavy issue of abortion. Like today, the abortion is more dangerous for poor people which no matter the law says, only wealthy people can access to a safe abortion which is according to the quote from the film "It's all right if you're rich. But if you can't feed 'em, you can't love 'em, can you?". Therefore; the law in 1950 is meant to make it illegal to the poor who seek abortion. The director further addresses the anti capitalist attitude with characterization of a rich girl who gets her better abortion while the poor are left to bleed with underground service. The value between a hundred pounds and two pounds caused life and death within people in 1950 and even today. It also portrays the different between the significant in lives of two classes. The risk from abortion of the upper class concerns with the shameful in high society while the lower class involves with being alive. Without Vera, poor girls has less ability to solve the unwanted pregnant.

Since the movie is not about abortion as much as the important of family, the Krakes are filled with warmth, laughter, and happiness. There is a strong family bond which holds them together to make a classic small unit. The emotion of Vera when she is arrested expresses important her family is as she let them down. The film also depicts the faith within people