Review: 'Precious' a Strong and Powerful Film

Submitted by da411girl

TC Entertainment Articles

The movie "Precious" is a powerful film based on the novel Push by Sapphire" chronicles the daily grind and troubles of a silent, damaged, dangerously obese 16-year-old African-American inner-city girl from the lower depths of Harlem.

The year is 1987, and Claireece Precious Jones is poor, ignorant, depressed, withdrawn from friends all social aspects of her environment. She's unhappy and  outwardly emotionless as she suffers verbal and emotional abuse on a daily basis.

Gabourey Sidibe, the newcomer who plays Precious, is amazing as she owns the role making you believe at times that this is a real life character. Precious uses very touching and moving voice-overs to narrate this film us. The movie visually illustrates her fantasies as stunning daydreams in where she dances around in silk and feather boas, worshiped and adored by the world.

Reality though for Precious is a grim and never-ending nightmare that is all too real. She barely speaks, doesn't smile, or display any facial expressions. Gabourey Sidibe depicts a near complete passive character, completely void of outward human emotions.

The movie at times breaks your spirit in a powerful way and almost literally put you there, as if in a virtual reality. There are gut-wrenching flashbacks of sexual abuse from her drug-addicted father who gets her pregnant, and extreme verbal abuse from her mother, Mary (Mo'Nique).

Mo'Nique the comedian, is quite serious in this role. She's mean, loud, and intensely bitter, treating precious almost slavelike. The abuse is unbelievable and shocking but seems so accepted in this disfunctional family, both from Precious and her mother.

Precious comes to the attention of a welfare counselor, played by Mariah Carey seriously deglammed and made down to depict Ms Weiss who tries to help Precious. This movie isn't the usual uplifting drama. It graphically shows real troubled girls trying, and often failing, to turn themselves around.

It seems impossible for Precious to escape her terrible mother. Every attempt at escape ends in terrible failure and near fear and terror having to deal with her mother from hell. "Precious" is a movie that makes you think, and open your eyes in disbelief. Its defintely a must see in my opinion.