what i'm watching: vera drake

We saw the movie "Vera Drake" last night, just out on DVD. (Thank you Netflix!). I thought it was very well done. Writer and director Mike Leigh is a master at illustrating complex themes through his story, without ever using characters as billboards. Since I struggle to do that with my own writing, I know how hard it is, and I am very impressed.

I felt a deep kinship with the character Vera Drake, a working-class woman who "helps girls out," as she calls it, by terminating early pregnancies. I am very prone to this stirring feeling of solidarity, be the characters striking office-cleaners ("Bread and Roses") or Alabama bus boycotters. I believe we are all part of the same struggle - that everyone working for justice is linked, across all cultures and all times.

The movie "Vera Drake" also illustrates abortion as an act of morality and compassion. The fetus is a form of life; that much is clear. A human being in a persistent vegetative state is also a form of life. Terminating certain forms of life can be necessary, can be preferred, and can be moral.