Reviews

I watched this on DVD last night expecting great things. I should have known better. At the root of the problem is the rather weak and implausible plot. Then we have characters that are verging on stereotypes (the effing squaddie was one of the worst). Add in some confusing jumbling of the time sequence - presumably an attempt at 'originality' - and dreary, portentous music that a) drowns out dialogue, b) tries, but fails, to inject some emotion into the events being portrayed on the screen. Sprinkle with historical inaccuracies, a pretentious conclusion (are we supposed to buy the idea that the novelist can literally 'write off' his or her appalling actions by making up happy endings?) and clunking references to scenes far better done elsewhere (murky goings on in ponds - 'Don't Look Now'; beach warfare tableaux -'Saving Private Ryan'; in front of the black-and-white cinema screen -'Brief Encounter; etc)- and the result is a terrible mess! Joe Wright's acknowledged admiration of Celia Johnson and 'Brief Encounter' seems to have encouraged him to believe he can be the new David Lean. On this showing he isn't, no more than Ian McEwan is today's Noel Coward. Liked the colour photography though!

Maria Full of Grace is a beautifully filmed movie with tremendous acting performances, so good that at times you forget that this is life seen through the lens of art. For a first film role, Sandino makes a superb job of portraying Maria Alvarez, the Colombian teenager trapped in a dead-end job with an uncaring boss (male, of course), pregnant by an uncaring boyfriend, and bread-winning for her ungrateful sister and child. When the prospect of earning megabucks by becoming a drug mule is dangled in front of her by (yet another) unscrupulous male, 17-year old Maria takes a chance. Mature beyond her years, she flies to New York with her deadly cargo and experiences the full horrors of the drug courier's world.

This movie, by an inexperienced director and lead actor, needs no gimmicks to make its point. The understated approach is just what the sometimes lurid content requires. As a piece of social drama, it puts the much acclaimed Vera Drake, with its wooden sets and clichéd performances, utterly in the shade. 9 stars.

Despite classy acting and Mike Leigh's trademark direction, this is a big disappointment.Vera Drake, the back-street abortionist with a heart of gold (24 carat) is literally 'too good to be true'.Once we know her little secret, the plot is utterly predictable and brings no surprises -'it's the rich what gets the pleasure, it's the poor what gets the blame' etc. Not exactly a novel theme. Worse still, abortion as a moral/political issue is never confronted. So this is more a critique of the British class system than an exploration of the abortion question. Even then, there is a whiff of the stereotype - the settings and costumes look to be precisely that. By setting the story in the early 1950s, Leigh weakens its critical impact further. A shame that he could not bring himself to deal with the 21st century. As it is, we are encouraged to see everything as 'historical' - but what about today's problems and concerns? Unfortunately,our belief in the character of Vera Drake is severely tested when Imelda Staunton appears in a pinny - comparison with Julie Walters depiction of Mrs Overall is irresistible! And there is only so much silent emoting, by both Vera and the upper-class girl, that the audience can take. Vera presents herself to the forces of law (where Jim Broadbent is badly mis-cast as a judge) as a passive victim who does not even have the spunk to speak out in her own defence. This invites neither sympathy nor pity so much as contempt. The general impression is that Mike Leigh has lost his way and is going round in circles.

The slightly odd title might be off-putting but hides a gem. It's a simple enough story based on real people and events - three young aboriginal girls are forcibly removed from their mother by the Australian state, but manage to escape and find their way home - but it is told in such a moving and understated way that it hits hard and deep. It helps if you have been to the Australian deserts but the landscape is shot beautifully. The acting from all concerned is brilliant, relying less on words and more on movement, setting, expression and gesture.The story connects at many levels - the pain of separation, the yearning for home, the traps of culture and ideology, the power of the state, colonialism, faith, survival...The most shocking realisation is that this appalling policy of forced integration continued until 1970! Just when you had thought 'it all happened in Victorian times' Noyce shows us footage of two of the girls as they are now, elderly ladies (one has since died). The audience stayed in their seats until the last credit, mesmerised by the haunting music that accompanies the film. Among all the dross it's good to know there are still movies worth going out for.