Exactly. See for example the latest Mike Leigh's film _Vera Drake_ (about illegal abortions in the 1950s). As all Leigh's films, it has a very strong class element and a tendency to portray working class protagonists in a very thoughtful and stoic way, but in this feature it extends that portrayal to all characters, even the police who arrest Vera for performing illegal abortions. The end results is a slow-moving almost theatrical narration (all action is indoors, a lot of dialog, little action) that is totally free from cheap sentimentalism and moralizing so characteristic of the Hollywood products. Although previous Leigh's films (esp. _High Hopes_) had their "villains" or rather "pathetic characters" - yuppies and two-bit capitalists - _Vera Drake_ is remarkably villain free. All characters, including the police and judges, are only doing their jobs. The end effect is directing viewer's attention at the system rather than the operators.
Contrast that with a typical Hollywood product. There would be probably a lot of personal drama and villain characters, slamming doors, high emotions, brutal cops etc. - sending a very different message: it is in the people not in the system.
Or take another example - the British-Italian-South African co-production "Hotel Rwanda" based on a true story of a Hutu hotel manager saving some 1200 people from genocide in Rwanda. Although the subject easily lends itself to spectacular drama and emotionalism which Hollywood producers would probably exploit to the max, the film is very balanced. It shows some glimpses of horror (leaving the worst parts to viewer's imagination) it concentrates on character development. Even in the scenes that do smack of too much drama - e.g. separating Africans and whites during evacuation - the director shows remarkable restraint, he simply shows the situation without jerking viewer's emotions.
This last observation suggest what is wrong with Hollywood filmmaking (which is symptomatic of the US society in general) - they treat their audiences as idiots that need to be spoon-fed and told what to feel and think, for otherwise they could miss the point. European films, by contrast, tend to appeal to viewer's intellectual and ethical faculties, and let the audience be a part of the process of defining the meaning and message of the show.
Wojtek