VERA DRAKE (2004)

Cast

Plot

Vera Drake, is one of the kindest, most selfless individuals any right thinking person could hope to meet, the mother of two grown up children, the wife of a loving husband, she works as a cleaner and is the epitome of a warm hearted decency. Vera is not just devoted to her family however, in the little spare time available to her she helps young girls terminate unwanted pregnancies and, though she takes no payment, this is 1950s Britain and the consequences for her actions, should she be discovered, are severe. Mike Leigh's latest film is an emotional tour de force, an almost unbearably moving dramatisation of a subject that still remains deeply contentious over half a century later. Beautifully performed by all, in particular Imelda Staunton.