tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Here is a film that presents a brutal journey that we would not want to partake in if it were not for the debut performance of Gabourey Sidibe. With her remarkable ability to provoke a strong sense of empathy we undertake the journey and experience along the way a valor being displayed despite uncomely circumstances. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire will tear away at your emotions without any sense of consideration as it follows Sidibe’s Clarice “Precious” Jones, a 16-year-old illiterate who is still in junior high and has her second child on the way, who suffers under the edifice of extreme violence which is initiated by her mother Mary played by Mo’Nique with ample abhorrence.

When Precious is asked by a caseworker (Mariah Carey) to speak what is on her mind she is hesitant at first. When urged again Precious lets her have it. After an act of self-disclosure, which shows how hurting and isolated she actually is, she then tells the caseworker “see what happens when I speak my mind.” The so-called “professional” in this situation is stunned and cannot quite re-gather her initial thoughts. What she has just found out proves to be much larger than her college degree can handle. But she wants to help. The same goes for a special education teacher (Paula Patton) who wants to enrich Precious’ life with knowledge and show her what it is to be loved. These two adults notice the severe pain plaguing this young woman’s life. Sticking their noses in her business and impinging themselves in her personal life is what the movie is all about; realizing hope in an area where none is being grown.

But hope is never given a chance to Precious because of the unrelenting torrent of meanness that her mother, Mary, shows to her. As the film progresses we see their relationship form new meaning. The throwing of blunt objects at Precious and the slavish remarks aimed at her happens to paint Mary in a distorted light. We are supposed to hate her and Mo’Nique does a tremendous job at that, showing us a mother who has given up on life a while ago. But to reduce Mary to just an ignorant and miserable individual would prove to be detrimental to Mo’Nique’s performance, because lurking under her tough skin is a tender heart needing to be comforted. With Mo’Nique’s vengeful character and Sidibe’s plaintive demeanor the two are able to attract one another to form a relationship that is psychological, giving numerous meanings on why each acts the way they do to one another.

Director Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer) does not have any intentions of subduing the meanness or ugliness depicted in his film. He brings to full realization the words that author Geoffrey Fletcher wrote in his book, Push in which this movie is based off of.  Mr. Daniels puts his audience in an inextricable atmosphere, such a strong and emotionally overwhelming one that hinders us from dissipating from it. He demonstrates to his audience the exact state of mind Precious naturally inhabits every waking day of her young life. It is 1987 Harlem and prosperity for her is minimal. Along with her mother she is confined to a dilapidated apartment which has the tendency to resemble a cell of unruly prisoners. Rarely does the sun shine through the clothing doubling as curtains, chunks of half-eaten food remain untouched on the dirty floor and where the modest inclination of hope is unfailingly torn to shreds.

What seems to be a conventional picture, a melodrama that persistently piles on the mishaps of an individual’s life, turns out to diverge from the ordinary characteristics that dominate so many rags-to-riches tales. Precious is not a glossy, made-over melodrama drenched in a golden aura.  Mr. Daniels strips away completely the clichés and ornamentations to uncover and expose, in a ruthless fashion, a harsh story of a decaying life. When Precious meets another harmful incident (her father is the father of her two children) or a crushing insult the film develops a satisfying tendency: Wanting to develop strength and hope when the capabilities of ugliness that stem from individuals is being expressed in a raw fashion. Daniels breaks through the ruins to highlight hope through the fantasies of Precious. She wants to walk the fashion runway and would love to have a light skin colored boyfriend. No matter how fleeting or out-of-reach one of them may seem it is still an essence of hope evident in a Hell on earth representation. That slight signal of hope being interspersed throughout makes the film gravitate toward ingenuity and splices the chaos with tinges of grace.