Film Review: "Precious"

Happy (belated) New Year, all!

The film "Precious," based off of the novel Push by Sapphire, tells the story of Claireece Precious Jones, a young girl in high school who is barely reading at a 3rd grade reading level and is pregnant for the second time by her father. Her mother, in turn, is a tyrant who inflicts severe physical and mental abuse on Precious. However, she somehow finds escape through the amazing strength of spirit that, through some miracle, exists deep inside of her. Her thoughts divert to an alternate life of celebrity, where the only screaming she hears is of fans lined up outside the door to get a photo of her and her "light-skinned boyfriend."

Her life, already full of turmoil and abuse, takes a sharp turn when she is suspended from school for becoming pregnant with her second child. The principal takes things into her own hands and enrolls Precious in "Each one Teach one," an alternative school for young women who have found themselves in exceptional circumstances that otherwise prevent them from continuing their high school education.

When we first walked into the theater, we were focused on finding our seats and settling in for a bumpy ride of a movie. There had been talk of the film's high level of intensity, and the fact that Oprah was backing it, I'm sure helped bring in the crowd.

The acting was brilliant. Gabby Sidibe, who plays Precious, immediately grabs your heart by the reigns. People may think the actress' abilities are overstated, but I will not back down from my exclamation (point). Alongside Sidibe was the actress who played her teacher Ms. Rain, Paula Patton, whose compassion (although a bit hard to believe at first) is overwhelming and simply beautiful. Her love for Precious does not remain constant, but grows exponentially throughout the film as she unearths the genuine life of her student.

Aside from the acting, controversy has surrounded the film and its portrayal of the "black american family" in the eyes of the white majority. When the lights came on and we looked up at the people sitting around us, it was mostly middle-aged or older white men and women. Did these people come to see a work of art on the big screen? Did they come to educate themselves about the "black experience?" Either way, you see these sixty and seventy-year-old couples walking out whispering to each other, "Oh, wasn't that awful? I cannot believe a mother would do something like that?" What would Oprah say to these remarks? After all, she did heavily promote the film.

There is a gripping statement to be made by "Precious." Not one of hate and despair, but a message that speaks to the power of the human spirit. The spirit of a black woman who, despite all that is thrown at her, rises up more powerful than any man or white person who may have hurt her in the past. The message is one of hope and triumph in the face of all that is shitty in this world (not just against the black community, but against any and all who have been stepped upon by the society we have built for ourselves today).

However, this is not the message that people are leaving with from the theater. Rather, they are throwing it away with their leftover popcorn and high fructose corn syrup soda, and instead saving the images of a black woman who loses her virginity to her father and must go through hell to save her children, only to hear that in the end she is struck down again by a nasty fate.

When you see this film, please make sure to leave with the right message in mind, and the movie will certainly be the success that it is made to be.