Mike Leigh has focused on the working class for much of his career; the struggles, the motivations and the circumstances. In 1950 London, working-class house cleaner Vera has a side job providing abortions for desperate girls. When a girl winds up in hospital, the police and the law soon crash into Vera′s happy life with tragic results. Leigh puts the plot in a relatively background position in relation to characterization and a drive to understand Vera. Imelda Staunton won much-deserved critical acclaim, a BAFTA award and an Oscar nomination for her searing, controlled performance as Vera, transforming from a vivacious woman at the outset into a silenced, dehumanized woman victimized by the system. When other filmmakers would send a polarizing story toward histrionics, with a grand denouement, Leigh keeps the film tight, and brings the conclusion down to the level that Vera is being treated at. Leigh′s empathetic film forces us to confront a difficult issue with an open mind, and without losing sight of reality-exactly what England′s legal system did not do for Vera Drake.