Festival unveils films sure to be classics

VENICE, Italy — The 61st year of the world's oldest film festival just finished with a surprising amount of new films destined to become classics.

Annually held on the neighboring island of Lido, rather than in the famed Renaissance city of Venice itself, the international film festival this year introduced to the world at least a half-dozen quality films that seem destined to be talked about and admired for years to come:

• British filmmaker Michael Radford (know primarily for his unforgettable "Il Postino" of a few years ago) has managed to bring off a very fine and surprisingly sympathetic version of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice," with Al Pacino as the old Jewish moneylender and Jeremy Irons as Antonio, the man bound to him. It's a first-rate production all around, and especially remarkable in that it was actually permitted to be filmed in Venice, with key scenes taking place in the Doge's Palace — and even on the usually-crowded-with-tourists Rialto Bridge and Grand Canal.

• Equally impressive is "Finding Neverland," with Johnny Depp skillfully playing James M. Barrie at the time of his life when he was inspired to write "Peter Pan." With a great supporting cast that includes Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell and Dustin Hoffman, this is a charmer that is not only next to impossible not to like but is honestly moving as well.

• Foremost was Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake," which, though ironically rejected when submitted earlier to the Cannes Film Festival, deservedly walked away with the grand prize here — the coveted Golden Lion.

"Vera Drake" is the story of a British woman shortly after World War II who — though known, loved and admired as a kind, understanding wife and mother who worked as a respected housekeeper and domestic — quietly helped out "young girls in trouble" on the side. Taking no money for it, and just using hot water, soap shavings, disinfectant and a syringe, she would good-heartedly but secretly perform abortions. And she did this for years until one of the young girls almost died and the police were notified.

Well-known British stage/film actress Imelda Staunton plays Vera — and it's a performance of such subtlety and conviction that it almost makes the film a landmark event. The rest of the cast is perfect as well, as are costuming, sets, lighting, photography and art direction, giving the film such an authentic look of England in 1950 that it feels as if we've actually been taken there. In a nutshell, it's simply brilliant.