Vera Drake, a review by Antares
Vera Drake (2004)
80/100 - My rating for this film centers completely around the three main performances in the film, Imelda Staunton, Philip Davis and Daniels Mays, with Mays' performance being the best of the three. As for the story, I've read that there was no script and the actors improvised from an outline written by Leigh. Sure, this adds to the realism, but it also makes the story a bit light weight. The story meanders a bit too much in the beginning in terms of exposition, with an unnecessary subplot featuring Sally Hawkins, which is thrown in to juxtapose how the rich dealt with the same problem that Vera fixes for the poor. With all the saintliness that Leigh incorporates into Vera's character, I was surprised to find myself almost loathing her towards the end of the film. And it's because of the scene where a doctor tells the mother of the sick girl, that he treats dozens of girls, just like hers, because of the back alley abortionists. It made me wonder how uncaring, arrogant or stupid Vera truly is. She does her procedure and she's out the door, with only a brief smile and a
"You'll be fine, Dear." How many girls wound up like Pamela Barnes after Vera's treatment? Vera doesn't know, because she never sees them again, and to that end, she is a danger to the community and needed to be stopped. I also would have liked to have seen some of the backlash that her family would deal with while she was in jail. It's a good film, but maybe there should have been a script to make it a bit more biting.
Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is(From Antares' Short Summations on April 25th, 2014)
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May 03, 2024, 08:19:02 AM
