Directed by Lee Daniels
Written by Geoffrey Fletcher
Starring Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, Paula Patton, Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz
Rated R for violence, pervasive profanity, scenes depicting sexual and physical abuse of a minor
Rating - Golden Gun
Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones is a 16-year-old illiterate girl growing up in 1987 Harlem. She is obese. Her clothes don’t fit. She is pregnant with her second child from her own father, having been raped for most of her life. Her first child has Down’s Syndrome. Her father is now out of the picture, but her mother Mary (Mo’Nique) physically and verbally abuses her. Constantly. People make fun of her and literally push her down. She has been stripped of her innocence, a punching bag her entire life. Ready to buy your ticket?
Precious is brutal, raw, vulgar, unflinching, unrelenting, overwhelming, indelibly disturbing, heart-wrenching, and emotionally exhausting. When I began hearing and reading about this film, I wondered “How in the hell can this be an uplifting story?” It is.
The film is not based on a true story but on the novel “Push” by Sapphire. In fact, the official title of the film is Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire which really pisses me off. It is an embarrassingly misguided and bloated title mired in the muck of marketing and promotions. Why not go the full distance and title it Precious: Directed by Lee Daniels, Written by Geoffrey Fletcher, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, and Starring Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, and Holy Shit! Lenny Kravitz! But I digress.
I’ve read some criticisms of the film as heaping too much abuse on its protagonist. These people are so missing the point. The film may not be based on a true story, but it feels like reality. Sadly, we know there are girls out there suffering like this. More importantly, from a story-telling standpoint, all of Precious’ problems are connected. She isn’t the victim of a random string of Job-like predicaments that plague Larry Gopnick in A Serious Man. As a victim of incessant incestuous sexual abuse, why is it hard to believe that a young girl would fall into obesity, problems at school, and have babies with birth defects? There are other problems that come later I won’t get into that are also directly tied to the sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is like a bombshell, its fragments piercing many areas of the victim’s life.
One method that I really admire in Daniels’ direction is the use of dream sequences. As Precious begins to go through a traumatic event, we are transported into one of her fantasies as she sings, dances, models, and goes on dates. It is an effective way of communicating the heart cries of a broken girl but also a smart technique in keeping the audience from living through every wicked detail of the abuse. Don’t get me wrong; the film is still quite graphic.
This is Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe’s first film. In real life, this 26-year-old is a bubbly, joyful, and energetic woman secure with her body. But her performance as Precious is breath-taking as she channels such extreme depths of sadness and misery. For an illiterate 16-year-old, I like how Precious observes people around her. In one moment of levity, she listens to two adults and narrates the scene with “They talk like people in TV shows that I don’t watch.”
Mo’Nique turns in an astounding performance that is difficult to watch but sure to earn her an Oscar nomination. How a comedienne is able to pull this character out of her is simultaneously bewildering and admirable. Mary is a monster. She is a seething cauldron of hate and sheer, unbridled rage which explodes frequently in bursts of profanity and physical beatings. Towards the end of the film, Mary sits with Precious and a social worker and talks about why she hates Precious. As she talks and sobs, a sliver of humanity begins to shine through the cracks. She is a truly complex character; the product of great drama.
How is hope attainable in all of this? After a particularly ferocious fight with her mom, Precious stumbles out of their apartment and into the cold, unforgiving, snow-blown concrete jungle of Harlem. She lumbers along carrying her newborn son. She finally comes to a stop in front of a church, standing under a neon cross. It is an unforgettable image. But what’s fascinating is her shot at redemption doesn’t come from the church. It comes, as it so often does, from other angels in her life.
Lenny Kravitz plays a nurse who takes care of Precious when she has her baby. He is sympathetic to her and at one point, he leans forward and gently kisses her on the forehead. The camera lingers for a moment, aware of the significance of this event as it is quite possible this is the first time anyone has ever shown true affection for her. Mariah Carey is also effective (and unrecognizable) as a social worker named Mrs. Weiss who Precious begins seeing in an attempt to get welfare checks. But, Mrs. Weiss is not just another calloused government worker jaded by the burden of her position. She has a genuine love for Precious and her situation. When Precious whines “You don’t even like me”, an exasperated Mrs. Weiss responds “Have we not been in this room together for like, a year discussing your life? ”
But perhaps the most important influence on Precious’ life comes from Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), the teacher from an alternative school that Precious begins attending when she is kicked out of her public school. Ms. Rain is beautiful, fierce, and compassionate. And she challenges her students. It’s through Ms. Rain that Precious begins to see the cathartic power of writing and the potential that lies within her. When Precious is dealt another blow in her life, she breaks down and begins to sob in class. Ms. Rain, who has showered Precious with abundant quantities of kindness and love, gets in her face and tells her to write. How this scene plays out will have you fumbling for the very last tissue in your box.
Precious is a staggering example of the power of art. It had a profound effect on me. Can you imagine how it will affect young women who are going through unimaginable pain? What a message for them…that amidst all of the anguish, the heartache, and the gut-wrenching agony of life, there is hope in the people all around us if we just look in the right places. That isn’t a naive, melodramatic, and Disney-like bullshit view of life. It’s a very real message of hope that Sapphire captures in her novel: “I’m gonna break through, I’m gonna learn, catch up, be normal, change my seat to the front of the class”.
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