On the same day that I saw Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake, in which the title character is an illegal abortionist in mid-20th century London, I happened to read an article in this month’s Atlantic Monthly called Letting Go of Roe, in which the pro-choice author Benjamin Wittes argues that it is time for the Democratic party to stop crusading for the federal protection of Roe Vs. Wade.
I agree with some of what Wittes puts forth, namely that allowing abortion to become the main issue on which Supreme Court justices are appointed is deeply unhealthy for this country. I have always been staunchly pro-choice, but I detest the mindset that many voters have about pro-choice candidates: As long as he or she is pro-choice, that’s good enough for me!
But then I saw Vera Drake, a chilling and powerful reminder of what might happen if the right to abortion is not protected. And while I still don’t agree with one-issue voting, you can bet that I’ll slip a little something extra to NOW in my annual donation.
Vera Drake is a saint. Living in war-ravaged London in 1950, Vera cheerfully tends to infirm neighbors and relatives, dutifully cleans houses for rich folk, and lovingly dotes on her close-knit family in their tiny flat. What her family doesn’t know is that, for many years, Vera has been administering saline abortions to women who find themselves in trouble. Free of charge (or so she thinks). Vera’s secret inevitably comes to light in a way that devastates her and her family.
The movie is a powerful pro-choice statement. Along with presenting Vera’s side of things, that these young women are in trouble and need her help, a sub-plot involving the daughter of one of her rich employers shows us how better-off women terminated a pregnancy: By subjecting themselves to prying male doctors and paying a heck of a lot of money.
Compare this to Vera’s quick efficiency and womanly reassurance. In framing the abortion debate in a different time and place, Leigh masterfully shows how we cannot afford a return to back-alley abortions all while showing how back-alley abortions are not nearly as grotesque as we imagined. Now we have clinics and procedures, but women have been doing this for each other for centuries.
But to call Vera Drake a movie about abortion would be missing the point. This is a movie about Vera Drake, a woman who is just as cheerful when she puts on a kettle for tea as when she puts on the kettle for her abortion solution. Imelda Staunton give a deservedly lauded performance, and Mike Leigh’s script and direction is deliberate and provoking.
This movie is the closest thing to a masterpiece that I’ve seen in a while. Try as I may and I always do, I cannot think of one fault or excess. I can only think of a well-written perfectly-paced script, an excellent cast, and a powerful message (that I happened to agree with) presented with only a touch of heavy-handedness.
