Precious

Precious is my vote for Best Picture of the year. It is unafraid to reflect the darkest images and moments of real life upon the big screen for us to recoil and react to. Yet, it also offers up a portrait of the human spirit’s near-divine ability to overcome, survive and strengthen through hardship, trials and support. In a perfect world Precious would be seen by everyone because it has something to say and is unafraid to say it.

The story is simple: a sixteen-year-old overweight, illiterate black girl is living in New York with her abusive mother and father, she gets placed into an alternative school and begins the journey towards discovering self-worth and her own spirit. It is set in the 1980s, but it could have taken place last week. Time is inconsequential to this story.

Since Precious is abused, it should go without saying that the film is graphic. There is only one on screen act of sexual abuse, but numerous others are allude and spoken about. And there is scene after scene of mental, emotional and physical abuse from Mo’Nique as Precious’ mother-from-hell, Mary. In an even more perfect world Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Precious, will both be Academy Award nominees once those nominations are announced, with one or both of them winning. Their final scene together is so powerful, moving, disturbing and unnervingly realistic that I left the theater feeling like every emotion I could possibly have was in my chest. I left feeling like I had witnessed something powerful and great. I left feeling like I had been hit by a truck.

But more praise should be given to Paula Patton as Precious’ teacher, a guardian angel with her own interesting traits, Lenny Kravtiz making a fine acting debut as a male nurse who shows kindness, love and sympathy to Precious, and Mariah Carey who deglams and goes back to her natural speaking voice for a small supporting role as a social worker.

The film is not all doom-and-gloom though, there is a surprising amount of levity in the scenes dealing with Precious’ alternative school, her inactions with her classmates outside of school and in the fantasies she creates to escape from her depressing reality. These moments drive home that while we can sink to depressingly shocking lows, we can also soar to our highest when we feel loved, that we have worth and that our minds, ideas, imaginings can be given life if we just know what to strive for and how to do it.