A Way of Life

In the real world there are no happy endings. Leigh-Anne (newcomer Stephanie James) is tough and purposeful - necessary qualities for a girl who became a single mother while still in her teens. Life is a constant struggle to get by - to pay the electricity bill, to deal with the welfare officers who drop by to check up on her, to keep the hostile father of her infant daughter at arm's length and simply to find enough money to live from day to day. Leigh-Anne is a survivor, though, and fiercely protective of her baby; although she may seem a victim in the eyes of some, she is determined to fight aggressively for her place in society. In a classic case of displaced anger, she takes out her hostility on her neighbours, the family living across the street - whom she vitriolically calls "Pakis" - especially after her brother starts to date their daughter. They receive the brunt of all her bottled-up rage.