Meet Imelda Staunton: A Brief Biography & A Few Of Her Great Movies

"Wife. Mother. Criminal." That is the very appropriate tagline for the movie Vera Drake in which Imelda Staunton is simply riveting. I couldn't take my eyes of the screen, particularly near the end of this movie. No wonder Ms. Staunton received awards for her role of wife and mother in this movie, which is set in England in 1950. It is an extremely emotional movie, take a peek at the official movie trailer:

"Motherly Abortionist Gets Entangled With the Law" is how the New York Times titled their review of Vera Drake and that sums up the movie quite nicely. It doesn't however, tell you that Vera Drake was performing abortions because, as The Times explains later in their review, "she wants to help other women." Women who are poor and destitute, women who already have a family that they are struggling to feed, women who have been raped...

Ms. Staunton won a BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the movie (and Ms. Staunton) were nominated for three Academy Awards.

Roger Ebert calls the acting, "pitch-perfect, seemingly effortless performances." He summarizes the film with these words, "Vera is kind and innocent, but Lily, who procures the abortions, is hard, dishonest and heartless. The movie shows the law as unyielding, but puts a human face on the police. And the enduring strength of the film is the way it shows the Drake family rising to the occasion with loyalty and love."

Vera Drake is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by both Roger Ebert and myself, with the warning that it does deal with the subject of abortion, which some may find upsetting. It is rated PG 17.

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Vera Drake from Amazon.