I had some mixed feelings about this film prior to seeing it because although it won several awards, it got some very negative reviews from some people who saw it. After seeing Precious, I conclude that if you hated it, it's because you didn't understand it. It is based on the book, Push, by Sapphire. The first thing that you need to understand is that this book is written from the point of view of an illiterate 16 year old girl, and the ignorance and innocence transcends into the film. A lot of people said there was too much profanity and the hardships that this girl was faced with were just unrealistic. I think all of those people are very lucky to have never had to experience or witness a life so full of tragedy, but they're extremely naive if they think such people don't exist! I will agree, however, that this movie is not for the faint at heart.
The story starts in Harlem in 1987, and follows 16 year old, Precious Jones. In the beginning of the movie, Precious is being suspended from school for being pregnant for the second time by her own father. A lady from her school tells Precious about an alternative school she may be able to attend, and wanting to better her life from that of her mother, Precious goes. In the beginning, she reads and writes on a 2nd grade level (but to be honest, my 5 year old reads and writes better). Her mother seems like a heartless, angry woman, who makes Precious do all the cooking and cleaning while she sits watching television all day. Her mother is also physically abusive. She is supported on welfare for Precious and for her first child, Mongo, who is an adorable little girl who suffers from down syndrome and lives with Precious' grandmother. She only sees her daughter when the social worker comes around, and her mother allows Mongo to come over so that it will appear that she lives there.
In the beginning of the movie, Precious is very quiet. She conforms to the things in her life for the lack of better knowing. After a few months or so at Each One, Teach One (the alternative school), you can see that she gains confidence and happiness (as much happiness as a person in her situation could experience). She begins writing in a journal every day to her teacher, Ms. Rain. Her story begins to touch the teacher and she starts giving Precious advice and inspiration in her return letters.
After giving birth to her second child, Precious returns to her mother's house where they get into a physical altercation, after he mother tosses her newborn baby into a chair. She is upset about losing her welfare after Precious told her own counselor that Mongo did not actually live with them, and that her mother had lied in order to get welfare. Precious defends herself and her child and goes to the only place she knows she is safe, Each One, Teach One. After trying for hours to find a place for them to go, Ms. Rain allows Precious and her newborn to stay at her house with herself and her female life partner. Precious gets herself into a halfway house with her teacher's help and it seems that she is on the road to get her life together.
Precious' mother comes to visit her at her halfway house to inform her that her father has died, and that he had died of AIDS. She tells her mother that she should get herself tested and walks out of the room. Precious reveals in the next scene that she has tested positive for HIV and that she will die. Ms. Rain convinces her to continue to write and tell her story so that she can help other people in similar situations.
At the end of the movie, Precious' mother asks her counselor to reunite her with her daughter. Precious agrees to the meeting. The meeting is a little odd as you realize that this woman is not heartless, just broken by her own life. She admits to hating Precious for taking her man away. She reveals that she believed that no other man would ever love her, and he was loving Precious instead of her, that Precious had stolen her man away. She was upset that he had given Precious more children than he gave her. She truly breaks down in a tearful jolt of mumbling, some of which makes little or no sense. After her mother leaves, and returns with Precious' daughter, Precious takes her daughter and her son and walks away from her mother, never planning to see her again. She wants to create a better life for her children, while knowing she will not be there to raise them.
The movie was not glamorous at all. There were no special effects. The dream sequences were a bit outrageous. But I got the impression that all of that added to the real, deep, dirty truth of Precious.
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