Precious - Just Write...  
| From the words of Ms. Rain (Paula Patton): "Just write..."
Once upon a time there was a young 16 year old woman named Claireece "Precious" Jones. I call her a woman because of what she has endured. [Imagine new-comer actress Gabourey Sidibe playing her in a movie with such conviction and honesty that you feel that it is real - a documentary if you will]. Obese, illiterate, shut off from the world; she has lived a tough life between her abusive mother and home life as well as the mockery she suffers at school. Precious dreams of being on a magazine cover, of being a fashion model or a movie star. It was in these moments that we saw her smiling and being happy. Pregnant with her second child, she reluctantly tried an "alternative school" despite her mother’s threats and constant mutterings of "you're too stupid to learn anything."
Ms. Rain is one of the teachers at this school. She is tall, beautiful and genuinely caring towards her students. She is strong, inspiring and doesn't give up despite being sworn at. [Imagine actress Paula Patton playing her in the movie version]. Through her patient teachings, Ms. Rain helps these students learn how to read and write - basic life skills.
Mary is Precious’ mother. She is mean, nasty, lazy; a real villain. (I see comedienne Mo’Nique turning in a tour de force performance playing Mary. She will go to great lengths to bring this vile human to life showing just enough vulnerability that you almost feel sorry for her.) She treats her daughter like a servant, yelling at her and throwing things at her. How Precious puts up with… I don’t know? It takes a mighty strong person to take that abuse and to recover from it. After a brutal, unnecessary attack from Mary, things start to look up for Precious. She finds shelter in a half way house where she balances raising her second child and finishing school so she make something of herself.
Now I know what you’re thinking, why would anyone want to read such a depressing story (or watch a movie with actual vivid acts of abuse)? Well, not all is lost in despair. There are great moments of comedy scattered throughout. Take for instance one of Precious’ classmates Joann. Every time she is present, she is making some comment that is either ridiculously over the top or just right and it works with great comedic effect. And besides, it’s good to let your emotions out every once in a while and Precious certainly evokes many emotions.
Ok, I can’t keep this “story” up. I tried to “just write” but it is difficult. I’ll just flat out talk about the movie now. Lee Daniels, the director, started out by producing Monster’s Ball. Look what that did for Halle Berry. I personally believe that Mo’Nique is the current front runner for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars. She is that damn good. The second to last scene with her, Gabbey and Mariah Carey packs one hell of a punch and she delivers it with such powerful restraint. Amazing stuff.
If I had one complaint about the movie it would be the dream sequences and when they occurred. I feel like the movie could have had a much better impact if we didn’t see her so happy in those moments even though these moments occurred when something bad was happening to her or she was reminiscing. We already heard through her narrative voiceovers that she wanted to be on the cover of a magazine, so we didn’t really need to see these moments – they drew away from the emotional impact; they took me out of the movie. Call me a dark and evil person, but I like to see people pushed to the edge in the most extreme ways (no wonder I love the movie Martyrs so much). However, I also love to see them push back so I was just waiting and waiting for Precious to stand up to her mom and that resulted in one of the best scenes in the movie. Once upon a later time, there was this young 17 year old woman, liberated and happy. I loved the very last scene with Precious walking down the street with her kids and saying that she is finally happy and cracks a smile – the perfect ending for such a story.
Other then that small little thing, Precious is a very good movie that should not be missed. It is well made by a fairly new director who shows a lot of promise with his techniques. Never mind the talk about how it justifies African American stereotypes, Precious could have been from any race and it wouldn’t have played out any different.
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