'Precious' deserves more attention

I walked into the theater with exceedingly high expectations for Lee Daniels’ new film “Precious.” The past has taught me that such anticipation typically leads to disappointment. But when the film was over, as the audience wiped their tears over rolling credits, I had the sense that it did not receive enough hype considering the incredibly moving story and the exceptionally believable acting.

“Precious” is the story of a Harlem teenager circa 1987 named Claireece Precious Jones. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe masterfully portrays Precious’ character as a hard-shelled girl who always tends to find a silver lining to the turmoil surrounding her existence. The film was adapted from the novel “Push” by poet and performance artist Sapphire, and honed in on taboo social issues that are placed in the back pockets of law makers and politicians.

From the very beginning of the film, it is evident that Precious is the victim of every single form of abuse imaginable. Images of the horrors she lived through on a day to day basis remain ingrained in the viewers mind long after the movie is over. For instance, the audience finds that Precious has been sexually assaulted and raped by her absent father. He has impregnated her twice by the age of 16.

Rather than protecting Precious from the sexual abuse, her destructive and revolting mother, Mary (played by Mo’Nique), stands by and enviously watches the assaults claiming she “didn’t wanna’ lose her man.” She clearly indicates on several occasions that she is jealous that “her man” would rather sleep with his daughter than her, which makes Mary despise Precious.

Throughout the movie, Mary is verbally, physically and sometimes sexually abusive to Precious. In addition to throwing frying pans and television sets at the teenager, Precious is regularly told by her mother that she is a “fat ass” failure who will never succeed at anything other than bringing in welfare checks. Precious is forced to cook and take care of her hate-filled mother, while she sits in front of the television set and hurls degrading remarks at her.

One can see the tremendous consequences of the mother’s abuse. Precious’ lack of self esteem and self-hatred is illustrated in one scene where she looks in the mirror and sees a thin white girl, rather than her true reflection of an obese and broken black teenager who has been unjustifiably rejected by every element of society.

Lee Daniels is not afraid to mix styles and genres.  In his determination to do justice to Claireece’s inner life, as well as to her circumstances, he allows splashes of fantasy, dabs of humor and floods of unabashed melodrama to into the drab landscape of her struggle. At the beginning, she describes her fantasy life: “My name is Clareece Precious Jones. I want to be on the cover of a magazine. I wish a had a light-skinned boyfriend with good hair. But first I want to be in one of those BET videos.”

She constantly experiences escapism, where she allows her mind to wander off to fantasies of walking a red carpet as a big celebrity. She envisions fans adoring her and praising her every move. But reality slaps her in the face with one bad scenario after the next.

After years of confusing her mother’s abuse for love, Precious finally sees her parent for what she really is: a poisonous, angry and scathing lowlife. This is when she takes charge of her future and makes a difficult decision to protect her children.

Movies like “Precious” are rare and hard to find. Although the story is unquestionably dark, it raises awareness to several serious problems that children in the United States face today. Molestation, illiteracy, verbal abuse and poor socioeconomic conditions are all topics that need to be discussed. Tyler Perry, who worked on the movie with Oprah Winfrey, also experienced a harsh childhood, and says that the film’s brutal portrayal of domestic and sexual abuse “brought back memories so strong that [he] can smell and taste them.”

In addition, the acting in the film was so convincing that I left despising Mo’Nique with every bone in my body. Even Mariah Carey’s performance as a social worker deserves an applause. And of course, Gabourey Sidibe did not fail to impress. I was also delighted to see Lenny Kravitz make a short appearance in the film. Overall, the movie received my vote for the best film of the year. I advise everyone to go see "Precious" (which is now at in theaters everywhere). But be be aware, Kleenex will be needed.