Unpleasant and unsatisfying

A raw, confronting depiction of the horrors of black poverty in America, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire is drawing a distinctly mixed response. To be fair, the detractors (like the controversial Armond White, who called it "a carnival of black degradation" but proceeded to use Norbit, Meet Dave and Little Man as examples of "excellent recent films with black themes") do seem to be in the minority considering the Oscar nominations, the Sundance awards, dozens of positive reviews and the official sanction of Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. But, with that said, I personally believe it's important to listen to both sides, because Precious - although powerful and well-acted - is faulted in ways that are hard to ignore, and the mixed response offers fascinating insight into the divided views of how race should be portrayed in motion pictures.

The titular character of the movie is 16-year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones (Sidibe), whose life problems read like a laundry list of ghetto horrors: she's morbidly obese, illiterate and profoundly depressed. She's the victim of incest, too - her father has repeatedly raped her, leading to one child with another on the way. Home is no refuge: she lives with her verbally and physically abusive mother Mary (Mo'Nique), who treats her like an animal but needs her to keep the welfare cheques coming. Due to her tough upbringing, Precious constantly retreats from the world in favour of a glamorous fantasy life. When the school principal finds out about Precious' latest pregnancy, she enrols the troubled teen in a special education program for at-risk girls. When Precious is steered towards this special education program, she meets the impossibly-named Blu Rain (Patton); a teacher so unrealistically patient and empathetic that you could be forgiven for wondering if she is another one of Precious' fantasy constructs. From here on in, the narrative is in firmly clichéd territory.

What's frustrating about the film is the number of outlandish fantasy sequences that occur whenever Precious attempts to mentally block out her darkest moments. Although such scenes may work on paper, they prove distracting when converted to screen, and at times these tonal shifts are downright jarring. Additionally, there are a few scenes that feel incredibly out of place, such as a scene shared by Mary and Precious in the form of a black & white foreign movie. Director Lee Daniels also pushes the melodramatic buttons too hard. He forcibly slams home every message when a gentle tap would be sufficient. It's easy to get a reaction using such themes as incest and parental abuse, but Daniels manipulates each new development for all the tears he can jerk out of it. Another gross miscalculation is that Precious' final transformation happens without the audience, and the end feels rushed and random.

One of the most controversial aspects of the movie is the way it handles the issue of race - most prominently, that Precious has grown to resent her black skin as a signifier of her poverty and misery. In one scene of the movie, which is taken directly from the novel, Precious describes herself as "ugly black grease to be wiped away", and through her interior monologues she makes it clear that she desires a "light-skinned boyfriend with real nice hair". The extent to which she despises her skin colour is further evidenced during a scene in which she looks into her bedroom mirror, and the reflection she sees is what she wants to be: a white girl with long blonde hair. In fact, as critics have pointed out, the filmmakers appear to support Precious' misconception of the value of skin colour by portraying almost all the positive characters as light-skinned: Paula Patton as the empathetic teacher, Lenny Kravitz as a nurse who explains to Precious the benefits of a healthy diet and makes her feel pretty, and Mariah Carey as the well-meaning social worker. Even if the movie doesn't reach the levels of racism some critics have accused it of, it's hard to ignore these implications.

(SPOILERS AHEAD) Here's the unforgivable problem: while some have labelled Precious as inspirational and uplifting, it isn't. As a matter of fact, the message it delivers is that even if you work hard and struggle, it probably won't do you any good. When the movie ends, Precious has escaped her mother but is doomed to die from AIDS. Or if the AIDS doesn't kill her, the diabetes probably will. Either way, Precious is doomed. She attends school and tries to learn, but she could've remained illiterate and stupid since she's still screwed. Education without any opportunity for application is useless. Barely anything changes for Precious, and the events of the movie only worsen her life. This is not a source of inspiration. The only worthwhile message it imparts is that one should be more upbeat despite life's challenges. (SPOILERS END)

On a positive note, the performances are uniformly amazing. For the film's 110-minute runtime, Gabourey Sidibe is Precious Jones - there are no awkward moments, times when she seems forced or unnatural, or instances when she fails to convince. Mo'Nique, who earned an Oscar nomination, sheds her comic persona and disappears into the frightening, self-loathing Mary, who represents a portrait of the self-pitying monster Precious may develop into if she doesn't escape. At the same time, however, Mary is far from one-note - despite the extremity of her actions, she is at one point allowed the opportunity to explain, but never excuse, all that she has done.
As Blu Rain, Paula Patton is deeply alluring, though the character never seems to be anything but a miraculous saviour for Precious. Another compelling performance is delivered by Mariah Carey, who's virtually unrecognisable in her small but memorable role that she absolutely nails.

All criticisms aside, Precious remains a powerful, moving motion picture. It immerses its viewers into Precious' grim world, and hammers home the harshness of her existence through provocative visual associations and an unrelenting sense of dirt and darkness. As a result of some fairly big miscalculations, however, Precious fails to live up to its hype. There's undeniable humanity and emotion pervading the movie, but in the end it comes across as an unspectacular succession of vignettes in which awful people find themselves in awful situations. As a cinematic experience, it's just unpleasant and unsatisfying.

6.2/10