In London in the 1950s, the weather was as wet and cold as ever. World War II had just ended, and the clouds had not completely dissipated. Britain was traumatized by the post-war shortage of supplies and the economy was depressed.
Vera Drake is an ordinary woman living in this difficult situation. She and her husband Stan live in a civilian apartment with their two adult children. They clean the house for others, and Stan repairs the car in her brother's shop. He works as a mechanic in a factory, his son is an apprentice tailor, and his daughter tests light bulbs in a factory. This typical ordinary working-class family lives a happy and intimate life, although it is not rich.
In the eyes of family and friends, Vera is kind and hard-working, and selflessly takes care of her elderly mother. While responsible for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the whole family, she also enthusiastically cares for the elderly and homeless people living alone. She always has a smile on her face and is eager to help others, like an old Angel Amelie.
But Vera has another side that is unknown. She has a secret job that has never been revealed to her family - helping women with unexpected pregnancies to have abortions.
At that time, artificial abortion was illegal in the UK. Although it could be performed privately by a regular doctor, it required a huge fee. Vera's patients come from all ages, but their common feature is that they all live in the lower-middle class and seek Vera's help after suffering emotional and physical torture.
Although she knew that it was a crime to help people have abortions using local methods, the kind-hearted Vera simply believed that this was what she had to do to help those poor and helpless girls, and she never charged any fees.
In this way, Vera has silently helped countless poor and fearful girls in the past 20 years.
Until one day, a girl who was rescued by Vera suddenly developed complications and almost died. This made Vera's secret exposed and she was eventually arrested by the police.
In the eyes of surprise and questioning, should Vera be condemned or pitied?
"Vera Drake", which won the Golden Lion Award for Best Picture and Best Actress at the 2004 Venice Film Festival , is a film that is plain on the surface but has a turbulent undercurrent. It seems that the abortion issue is the main conflict of the film, but in fact it focuses on the bitter microcosm of the times and women under the conflict between good and evil intentions, social class and family.
▲ "Vera Drake" Phoenix TV Movie Channel aired at 21:15 on August 30
Director Mike Lee did not dwell on the rights and wrongs of abortion and moral criticism, but used his usual realistic approach to meticulously It depicts the atmosphere of society and family life, shows the contrast between social classes and the people at the bottom, and creates the helpless confrontation between indifference and enthusiasm, material and spiritual, and law and human nature.
The film does not make a serious criticism, but tries to preserve the scars of the passing of events for the audience to reflect and share.
In addition to revolving around life, old age, illness and death, the controversy over human nature also has another main form, which is the "evils" caused by certain environmental difficulties. Under the influence of time and space environments such as war, religion and human weakness, "evils" often result in "evils". "Innocent despite appearing guilty" or "guilty despite appearing innocent."
"Vera Drake" is also translated as "Angel Vera Drake". It is not difficult to see that Vera, who understands the pain of others and helps others to relieve themselves, is regarded as an "angel", but under ethics and law , this "angel" is actually a sinful person, even a demon who "kills countless people".
But in the film, we can’t find the villain who specializes in doing evil or the devil who wants to harm others. Everyone seems to have done what they should do, but the final result highlights the entire social environment. The greatest absurdity.
Vera is not wrong, she is just trying her best to help others; abortion is not wrong, those girls need to be saved; the police are not wrong, they all sympathize with Vera, but they also follow the law and do routine work; the law is not wrong, Victoria The pulling method is indeed too dangerous and may endanger lives... The biggest conflict of
is actually that under social classes, when facing the same problem, there is a huge difference between guilt and innocence.
During this economic recession, most middle- and lower-class women can only solve the problem of abortion through free underground channels. However, rich people can spend a lot of money to seek help from normal hospitals, and use the loopholes in mental evaluation methods to falsely determine that their mental status is not suitable for pregnancy, so that they can have abortions in a gray area through legal procedures.
The controversy over abortion is still being questioned in Western religions and cultures.
Vera did not receive much education, and she certainly did not think deeply about the complicated and twisted contradictions between religion and social human rights. However, her understanding of the pain of life and her help to others far exceeded many disputes about right and wrong.
When questioned by the police, Vera murmured that she was just trying to help those poor helpless women resume menstruation, but according to the law, she was eventually sentenced to jail.
This is impossible to defend in terms of legal facts, so the film deliberately avoids entanglements in endless controversies. While the legal network is ruthless, it also shows sympathy and understanding for Vera in the human portrayal of the police and the judge.
However, sympathy and understanding cannot withstand the reality of the social environment and the battle between good and evil in human nature. The kind-hearted Vera did not know that the agency friend who introduced the patient to her secretly charged them a fee of 2 pounds.
In the court, until the last moment, no girl who had been rescued by Vera was willing to appear in court to testify for her.
What’s even more ironic is that when Vera was imprisoned, she discovered that two inmates of similar age were actually in prison just like Vera for assisting others in illegal abortions; the difference was that Vera was a first-time offender, while they were Is a habitual offender.
This shows that underground abortion operations were common in society at that time, and the laws kidnapped by religion and morality not only ignored the torrent of social needs, but also encouraged the emergence of informal underground operations.
Director Mike Leigh uses his usual realistic style and uses calm lenses to bring the plot into the gloomy and depressive environment of the 1950s just after World War II, and tells the story of an ordinary woman. Put it into conflicts on various topics about life and choices.
On the other hand, for "Vera Drake" to have such an effect, we must applaud the performance of the heroine Imelda Stolton, who combined Vera's kindness and perseverance with a natural look in her eyes. It is shown with the body, shocking people's hearts. Especially when the police come to the door and the world collapses, the expression changes, which can be called a classic scene.
enters a relatively subjective reality from a relatively objective perspective. There are no overly dramatic scenes, but the dramatic tension is always hidden in the documentary style. This kind of slow presentation aims to calmly present the theme of abortion and accurately explain it. social problems.
There is no perfect hero, nor great joy or tragedy. "Vera Drake" uniquely demonstrates a calm but not cold film language. Moisturizes things silently, and this seems to be the charm of movies that many people have forgotten.
Written by: Focus
Editor: Focus, Lin Zi
