Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Precious is one of those movies that keep you glued to the screen.  Maybe you’re horrified by what’s happening.  Maybe you’re hoping that things will improve for our heroine.  Maybe you can’t believe what you’re seeing, even though deep inside you know perfectly well that this type of things happen everyday.  Maybe it’s like watching a train wreck from which you cannot avert your gaze.

Regardless of the why, a movie like Precious is meant to shock you, to expose the ugly, to show the nasty, and Precious does it all masterfully well.

Precious tells the simple story of a teenage girl named Precious who still lives with her mom and is pregnant.  While that per se isn’t indicative of a hellish life, the conditions in which Precious has to live because of her mother’s constant belittling and beatings make it so.  The reason why Precious is pregnant in the first place also adds to her dire existence.  And her heavyset frame doesn’t help her confidence nor her place in the outside world.

Precious is headlined by two actresses who pretty much own every frame.  Gabourey Sidibe, as Precious, is a revelation.  She plays this enslaved girl with dignity, submission, and inner strength.  Sometimes a simple gaze is enough to make us care and root for Precious.  Although she didn’t win the Oscar for it, a nomination for her first role ever is a triumph in itself.

A comedienne and TV personality, Mo’Nique’s film career was slim and irrelevant up to this role, for which she very deservedly won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.  Rarely have I seen such rage, such genuine selfishness, self-centeredness, and carelessness in a character portrayed with such raw talent.  All one can say is, BRAVO!!

Two very famous singers also appear in cameo-like roles.  Lenny Kravitz as a nurse and Mariah Carey as the social worker who tries to help Precious live a better life.  While Kravitz simply holds is own, Carey, barely recognizable without her usual glitz, actually gives a performance worth noticing.

Precious isn’t an easy movie to watch, but it’s a must see that will stay with you long after the last harrowing scene in which Mo’Nique looks like a caged wild beast at the end of her run is over.

Grade: 9