Article: NAKED English director Mike Leigh turns his uncompromising vision on the way things are

NEW YORK -- You need only compare the title of Mike Leigh's new film, "Naked," to his previous two, "High Hopes" and "Life Is Sweet," to discern the change in direction. Like any self-respecting observer of British society, Leigh decries in his films the hammering of the working class, the stripping of its dignity, the permanence of its unemployment. But while "High Hopes" and "Life Is Sweet" celebrate the resilience and coping abilities of working-class folk, "Naked," which opens Friday, is much darker, shoving England's dispossessed proles into a life -- if you can call it that -- where the only self-validation comes from violence.

David Thewlis, the actor playing the protagonist in ...

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