Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire (2009)

Warning: Not for the light-hearted.

This is a movie that takes risks. 'Precious' tells the story of its self-titled heroine as she faces insurmountable obstacles in 1980's Harlem. Raped and impregnated by her father for the second time, the obese teenager looks for hope as the drowning waters crash around her. Her mother (Mo'nique, the other spark of the film) would make all of the Wicked Stepmothers of fairy tale lore whimper in their beds.

We watch painfully as Precious' greasy father mounts her on a bed of filth and tears and sweat and tells her that he loves his baby. This is not shocking; what's shocking, then, is what Precious sees. Grimacing in clear disgust, she focuses on a crack in the ceiling, which crumbles away to reveal Precious in one of her glamorous escapades of stardom, riches, and excitement. Hope springs eternal.

The pain continues to deepen, however, as Precious does everything she can to hang on to this aching world. She's good at math, we learn, and not just because she has a crush on her teacher. It has kept her in school, which in this society can be interpreted as a small miracle. Especially since she cannot even read or write. Her education gets her a ticket to an alternative school, where escape from this wretched life seems possible.


Here is a story that we naive suburbanites simply cannot make up on our own; I believed it only because I would have felt ashamed to accuse it of melodrama and then find out it was real. There is a moment early in the film where we first meet Precious' mother; she goes off on a rant against Precious that seems neverending. Just when you think the verbal abuse is about to stop, she amps it up again. When we see Precious, her face shows clear and honest hurt, and we start to understand that nurture is so much to our childhood. Without it, we are wounded and lost. Sticks and stones may break bones, but these words can kill.

The movie does not stop with these eye-opening expositions of a broken adolescence. Director Lee Daniels forces us into this all-too-adult world. One scene in particular will have you gasping in disgust and admonishment. However, a few scenes will have you tearing up with joy.

It's the kind of movie that yells across the screen. The last shot, and the closing dedication, spring hope and love for all the girls out there who are lost and cannot find their way home.