VERA DRAKE
13th September 2004
Vera Drake, a film by Mike Leigh, won the Golden Lion at the 61st Venice Film Festival. This British film won a further boost when Imelda Staunton was named as Best Actress.
When it screened halfway through the festival, headlines appeared: a film about abortion. The presumption seemed to be that Vera Drake was 'pro-abortion'. A potential scandal makes for ready copy. This continued in most of the reporting about the film and its awards. The buzz about Vera Drake being a front-runner for the big award led to speculation about how the Catholic Church would respond. Italian journalists are said to have a reputation for being critical of the church, if not stridently anti-clerical at times, so this would provide a field day.
In the event this did not happen, although the members of the Catholic jury for the SIGNIS award (for the World Catholic Association for Communication) were alerted to the sensitivity of the situation.
Two factors contributed to a more intelligent discussion of the film. First was the film itself. Mike Leigh is a master film-maker. He has won awards in Cannes for Naked and his very moving, Secrets and Lies. Other films include the Gilbert and Sullivan portrait, Topsy Turvey as well as the picture of very ordinary London life, All or Nothing. Vera Drake is in the All or Nothing tradition. Vera Drake is a fifty year old housewife in North London in 1950. She is generous to a fault. Nothing is too much trouble for her. Everyone says she has a heart of gold. She is the proverbial good woman. The first half of the film is a moving portrait of this woman whom Imelda Staunton's performance makes memorable.
Without any lead in we are shown how she also performs syringe abortions for women and girls 'in need'. She has done this for twenty years or more. Her family know nothing about it. When one girl suffers complications, hospital authorities inform the police and Vera is subject to questioning and arrest.
The second factor for discussion was Mike Leigh's press conference. He was quick to point out that his films treat social issues but never provide unequivocal answers. He provides the equivalent of a case study (something like what seminarians explored in the past during their moral theology course). Leigh noted that, while we bring our own agenda to the story, we are invited to consider a wider range of perspectives. It is not simply, or simplistically, moral judgment by unnuanced application of moral principles. Catholic confessional practice has traditionally urged for more delicacy of conscience and a greater appreciation of what full knowledge and full consent mean in the context of responsibility for actions and for sin. Leigh said that some audiences would view Vera as a saint, committed to assisting women; others would see her as a monster, destroying lives.
Most audiences hurry out as soon as final credits roll. For those who stay, they will see that Leigh dedicates his film to his parents, a doctor and a midwife.
The difficulty with labelling a film 'about abortion' is that this merely tells us the subject, or one of the subjects, of the film. The Biblical story of David and Bathsheba is about adultery and murder but that is just a labelling description. What we need to know is 'how' these issues are presented. This is the criterion for a moral evaluation of a film. This means, as a correspondent for Vatican Radio was reported as saying on air during the Venice Festival, that Leigh's film is ‘difficult and interesting’ and ‘avoids propaganda and tentative and facile conclusions’. Catholic teaching has always urged the faithful to condemn the sin but not the sinner. Leigh's portrait of Vera Drake contributes to that way of looking at her despite what she does.
A post-script on Mar Adentro, The Sea Within.
A helpful comparison with the approach of Vera Drake to its moral issues could be made with Alejandro Amenabar's film, Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside) for which Javier Bardem was named as Best Actor for his role as a long-time quadriplegic pleading for assisted suicide.
This is a beautiful, classical and often lyrical film to watch. Once again, it can be seen as a case study. However, the tone is often propaganda-like in its presentation of the plea for legislation to be changed and the emotional reasons for assisting someone incapacitated to die. This is quite clear in a final scene where Ramon, the quadriplegic, drinks cyanide and dies. In the process of taking the drink, he speaks to a video to explain once again what he is doing and why. He has spent 28 years as a quadriplegic, entirely dependent on others. He still has vitality and has a strong capacity for friendship and encouraging others to life. However, he feels that this quadriplegic kind of life lacks dignity. This, of course, is debatable but
cannot be simplistically dismissed because we do not agree with it. The film's screenplay, in fact, provides characters who do not agree with the assisted suicide, especially his brother.
Once again journalistic headlines were not entirely accurate. Mar Adentro is not concerned with euthanasia explicitly. Its focus is on 'assisted suicide', which is not the same thing. Moral discussion is never effective when it is merely based on headlines which may or may not be correct.
There are two responses to material with which we do not agree on moral terms. One is polemic which merely repeats strongly the views that are already held. The other is dialogue, a listening to an opposing point of view with respect to see what further light is thrown on the issue in order to
find some meeting of hearts and minds.
Appendix
Posted: Sun., Oct. 17, 2004, 6:00am PT
Inside Move: Leigh pic plays both sides
'Vera' hoping to ride controversy to success
By GABRIEL SNYDER
<http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=bio&peopleID=2310>
With "Vera Drake," helmer Mike Leigh may have accomplished the impossible: making a film about abortion that both sides of the debate can admire.
Fine Line hopes the pic — about a homemaker and abortionist in postwar London — will be the next film to ride controversy to success, a la "The Passion of the Christ" and "Fahrenheit 9/11."
It's even enlisted pro-choice groups like NARAL and consultants who worked on "Fahrenheit," to push the pic. But so far there hasn't been any controversy. Pro-life groups, such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, have only had positive things to say about the film.
Harry Forbes, who classifies films that are considered morally offensive for the USCCB's Office of Film & Broadcast, actually gave "Vera Drake" a
rave review.
Noting the story doesn't "proselytize for abortion," he wrote, "Leigh's script has all the subtle nuances of 'real' people reacting to a
domestic crisis." Imelda Staunton's performance, he says, "is acting of the highest order."
Forbes echoes other official Catholic voices on the film.
Shortly after "Vera Drake" won best film honors at the Venice Film Fest, World Catholic Assn. for Communication prexy Peter Malone praised the
film despite its subject matter. "It is not simply, or simplistically, moral judgment by unnuanced application of moral principles."
Staunton hasn't tried to stoke the political flames, either.
"I'm not Susan Sarandon," she told the Guardian. "I don't want to bang a drum. I think I'm just going to say, 'I'm pro-choice,' and leave it at
that."
In this shrill season, how refreshing.
