About Mike Leigh :: essays papers

About Mike Leigh Like many of the films watched in class there seems to be an ongoing theme in Mike Leigh’s films of the tragedy that is the life of those living in Britain. Fortunately, Leigh chooses to instead use these tragedies to instead promote the optimism or â€Å"high hopes† if you will of the people stuck in such unfortunate circumstances that are displayed onscreen. His films seek to bring light where there is darkness and truth where there are lies. In the film Secrets and Lies, we are introduce into a family that seems to have quite a few problems that are on the surface and far more that are well hidden to the world as well as those they call family. Instead of pulling together and expressing their feelings and problems they instead decide to draw in on themselves and keep the secrets hidden. It seems to me to be a out of sight, out of mind kind of mentality that for some odd reason they believe will help them deal with their problem. At the birthday party when things finally come to a head and Maurice finally says his peace and gets the secrets and the lies that they have all kept for so long out in the open the burden of his message is what is going to happen after this is unleashed upon their family. Maurice faced an unknown future when he decided to face up to his family’s problems. He was the only character in the entire film that actually knew everything that was being kept from the rest of the family. With this knowledge comes a burden of what to do with this knowledge. With the emergence of Hortense and the discovery of her true identity Maurice must come to grips with the truth of his family and must make them understand that they must tell each other the truth behind their demeanor. Maurice’s speech could have had very bad consequences. He could have lost his niece, whom he views as the daughter he and his wife will never have. He also could have lost Cynthia’s trust in making her tell the truth of matters. Lastly, Maurice’s own marriage was on the brink due to his wife’s inability to have children and she was driving him away because of it. One small turn of events could have forever veered this from the brink of tragedy right over the edge and this would have been yet another family lost to the unforgiving world in which they live.