Films are primarily concerned with the issues of everyday people

'Secrets and Lies', Mike Leigh

-Films are primarily concerned with the issues of everyday people

Discuss the extent to which you agree

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Make a close analysis of the text

In the film 'Secrets and Lies' directed by Mike Leigh, we see first-hand how the director explores the issues of everyday people. From a variety of 'types' of people shown through the class system, and the hurdles faced by the main characters, the audience begins to see how films are primarily concerned with the issues of everyday people and the way this idea is unpacked as 'Secrets and Lies' progresses.

One issue brought up in this film is the idea of 'nature versus nurture'. Cynthia faces many fits of anxiety; her daughter Roxanne distant from her, her brother Maurice steered away by a seemingly nasty wife, and a daughter she gave away at birth now re-entering her life.

English: Nature vs. Nurture

Roxanne (film)

English: Roxanne Guinoo

Roxanne's moody, cold attitude opposes Cynthia's melodramatic desperation, Roxanne seeing her mother in all her weakness and wanting to be anything but that. Here Roxanne is affected by her mother. However, in all of Roxanne's attempts to be so different from her mother, we see Mike Leigh linking them with similar lives, Roxanne seeming like she will follow in her mother's footsteps. This is shown in the scene when Cynthia and Roxanne sit opposite each other at their home's dining table. They both sit with a cigarette in their hands, inhaling as the camera flicks between them. This shows their similarities, Leigh hinting that Roxanne will lead a similar life to her mother's. We then also see Roxanne asking 'you quiet, aint ya? What's up?' Here we see the prying ways of Cynthia mirrored in Roxanne, thus Cynthia affecting Roxanne and showing that Roxanne...