Reviews 2009 Movie Reviews The Diva's review of Precious
| The Diva's review of Precious |
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| Written by The Diva | |||||
| Monday, 23 November 2009 | |||||
WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW. The
Digest It's 1987 and Clareece Precious Jones ishas a lot to deal with, the least of which is the fact that at 16, she is still in middle school. Not only is the 16 year old pregnant again, her father is once again the sire of this child. The first child whom she has named “mongo” has Downs Syndrome, a situation she is ill equipped to deal with. Would that be the most of her challenges. if being repeatedly raped by her father isn’t enough, she is brutally abused by her mother, Mary (Mo’Nique) Brutally. She has managed to excel in math, but the rest of her education is poor at best. Illiterate would not be an overstatement. When her school principal learns of her pregnancy, she arranges for Precious to go to an Alternative school. Precious has no idea whatan alternate school is, but it is there that she begins to thrive under the guidance of an idealistic teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton) . But is this enough? IS this enough to correct 16 years of abuse and show Precious that she is worthy and deserves love? The Dish
Wow. As I watched this, I thought how this girl have been someone in my life. I was 17 in 1987. My high school had a daycare center. There were so many young mothers, some with more than one child. Some of these girls were just faces in the crowd. I wonder how many of them had horrific situations at home. I am an abuse survivor. My step-father was not the nicest guy on the planet, but when I look at what Precious had to endure, my step-dad was Cliff Huxtable by comparison. This is one of the most disturbing, yet courageous movies I have ever seen. Courageous on many levels. The courage of Sapphire to write the book upon which this movie is based. One The courage of Precious to persevere. The courage of the Mo’Nique to play one of the vilest women I have ever seen on screen. The courage newcomer Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe to allow herself to be emotionally naked on screen. The courage of Lee Daniels to take on the challenge of putting this out there for all to see. What do I mean by that last statement? One of the many struggles that we as African Americans face is the FACE that Hollywood gives us. We seem to have to fight tooth and nail to get Hollywood to portray us in a positive light. We also have to fight tooth and nail to get black films that are more than getting high during a booty call at the cookout before we get on the soul plane. There will be those of us who flinch at the unflinching rawness of this story. There will be those of us who celebrate in a damn good black film. There will be those of us who will find fault in showing such a reprehensible black woman, For me, this is a story that needed to be told. It was a story that I needed to see – as tough as it to watch at times. The Directive In the end, this movie isn’t about Precious’ hell, it’s about her triumph. It is about a broken spirit that is unbroken. Someone else said it better than I can "It's like watching the birth of a soul." Everyone, who is an adult, should see this. I’ve added that little caveat because of the 10 or 11 kids under 10 I saw there. Really mothers? Did your 5 year old really need to see all of that? 
A Precious gem of a movie - fragile and strong at the same time, .
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 23 November 2009 ) | |||||
; running time
of 1 hour and 49 minutes 
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