‘Happy’ while facing it all

Mike Leigh is celebrating the power of positive thinking in his new movie, “Happy-Go-Lucky,” which premiered Tuesday at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The film focuses on the life of London teacher Poppy (played by Sally Hawkins), a character who, the director said, is “special . . . in a sense that she has this positive energy.”

Leigh said he wanted to counter a trend toward pessimism and show that “there are in the world people being -- despite everything that’s happening -- people being positive and getting on with it.”

“It is important that we confront ourselves with the realities of the life and with the negatives . . . but it’s equally important that we take life and celebrate it where and how we can,” he said at a news conference.