Lee Daniels's Precious is a movie so devastating that you do not want to suspend your disbelief. It is a movie that you want to ignore, that you want to tell yourself would never happen, could never happen. But I'm sure it does, and far more frequently than we would like to admit. The movie follows Precious (Sidibe), a 16-year-old girl who is nearly illiterate, who is verbally demeaned and physically abused at home by her mother (Mo'Nique), who is pregnant with her second child after being raped by her father, and who escapes it all through her vivid fairytale imagination. The difference between Precious and other girls in her situation is that she still hopes for a better future. And she will ferociously follow that hope no matter where it takes her, as long as it takes her out of where she is now. By a stroke of luck, she gets enrolled at an alternative school called Each One Teach One, where she learns to read and write under the guidance of a kind and loving teacher (Patton). She reveals her home life to a welfare worker (Carey), who calls in the mother for a meeting to discuss the abuse. But as the movie ends, most of her problems are not solved, and some new ones have only just begun.While it's a powerful story, it is far from perfect. The movie's success, in my eyes, hinged on Precious's mother not being evil, but being human. If the mother comes off as being evil, then the situation doesn't seem real, and the strength that Precious has won't be real. The movie did attempt to humanize the mother, but it didn't feel like they explained her enough. Maybe that frustration, that lack of having everything explained satisfactorily, was exactly the intent. But the fact of the matter is that it left me wanting a deeper understanding of the characters. If I can't empathize with the people in this movie, then what was I supposed to get from it?
I could nitpick about obnoxious audience members or unconventional editing, but my main complaint with this movie is that it didn't make me believe in its world. As a whole, the movie has some assaulting images and heartbreaking moments. And the end leaves you with the bittersweet taste of hope mixed with despair mixed with anger. The movie succeeds in many regards, but unfortunately fails in the most necessary and important aspect. It was so, so close to making me believe, but didn't quite manage it. Maybe it will for you; if it does, Precious has the potential to split you in two.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929632/