Precious

Precious is a feel bad movie which is incredibly depressing and immensely emotional. Nominated for several Academy Awards which it won two Oscars and also won five Independent Spirit Awards, does it live up to it’s hype? I think so.

The film Precious is set in Harlem in 1987. It’s a story about an obese black 16-year-old Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), who is pregnant with second child which came from her father who molested her. Her abusive mother is on welfare and she clearly shows Precious no respect. She gets suspended by her school because she becomes pregnant again so she gets sent to an alternative school.

On the first day of the new school during introductions Precious admittedly states that there is nothing that she does well in. Truly sad. But the new school is willing to listen to her, something no one has ever done before. She begins to learn how to read and write properly and begins to see a social worker where the social worker learns of the incest and abuse. Precious leaves home after her mother purposely drops the new born child. After the news of her father died of AIDS, she informs her class that she is HIV positive and begins to breakdown crying saying that no one loves her and that life is horrible.

It was really interestingly filmed with a dirty and gritty look with a raw feeling. Precious has these visions of fantasies that she lives in another word where she is someone beautiful and famous, a better life. When she looks into the mirror, she pictures herself as an attractive thin white blonde girl. One little thing I noticed was some of the scene transition music was out of place. Jazzy and upbeat after a depressing scene was a little odd. I understand it was maybe used as her attempt to block out what was actually going on but I think it was necessary. There were other ways that they achieved that like with her visions. That’s nitpicking though. The ending is very open and typically I don’t mind that at all, but for this type of movie I was hoping for more closure.

Precious is a powerful film that isn’t the type that will probably have much repeated watches but it is one that should be viewed at least once, if not for the sheer fact that you can appreciate what you didn’t have to live through.