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| Reviewed by: Jason White 05 Apr 2005 Vera Drake
| |  Following the likes of Naked and Secrets & Lies, we get a new film from director Mike Leigh. Vera Drake is the film in question and it deals with a bit of controversial subject. She was a loving wife and good mother, but in her spare time she was a back-alley abortionist. Such is racy even today, the argument on what such entails, and this film handles the subject very matter of fact within the context of the film. It doesn’t shy away, it just puts it out there. Regardless of your feelings towards any of that, the film is well done and adds some good weight to the long running subject and its differing views.
Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) is a loving mother and good wife, running an efficient house and taking good care of the kids. The family tends to revolve around her and she is well liked in her community. The secret is that she helps out girls in trouble by doing abortions for them. She has done it for some time and no one is the wiser until one girl she helps out has complications and has to get real medical help. Such puts the spotlight on Vera and soon her secret is out to her family and community. The film makes no judgments nor pushes any opinions, it provides the details matter of fact and has for and against and shows the many arguments that this topic has brought up within the context of one small family.
Vera Drake is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The film has a bit of grain to it which detracts in the darker scenes but overall looks pretty good. I have read the grain is intentional in most places so deal with that. Specks though are odd and wonder if they were added as there is a lot there to make the film look dated when it isn’t. Another negative is a heavier than normal amount of edge enhancement. Past all that is some good stuff such as the colors which are well saturated and very nice in the low lit scenes. Contrast is fine and blacks do their job. The grain and specks are really the big factor that will make a few scratch their heads.
Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS. The two mixes sound about the same. The mix is nothing really more than just dialogue and score. Dialogue is clear and the balance is fine. Sounds fine for being a simple mix that really could have done fine with just a 2.0 mix, which incidentally is also included.
The film got some hype from critics, but not too much here in terms of extras. All you get is a few trailers, one of which is for this film.
Mike Leigh makes pretty good emotionally driven films, and this one is no different. Well acted, directed, and just a nice production with a moving story. The look of the film seems a bit odd, but don’t know what was the reasoning so hard to say if the DVD has an issue or not. Probably not given this is New Line. The audio is fine but simple, but the lack of extras will most likely annoy most fans. A finely made film but some will embrace and others will likely use as a stance for their own beliefs. |
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Copyright (c) 2007 Rock Star Media Works, Inc. All rights reserved.
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