Student Critics: ‘Precious’ hard to watch, but still worth seeing

Caitlin Whittington

I’ll admit that I had no desire to see Lee Daniels’ Oscar-nominated “Precious.”

From the few previews I had viewed, it looked too disheartening.

“Precious” is set in Harlem in 1987 and tells the story of Clarice Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old illiterate junior high student who is pregnant with her second child.

We find out early on that both of her children are from her father.

The abuse is raw. Daniels doesn’t skim over the rape scene, nor does he gloss over the physical and verbal abuse Precious suffers multiple times from her mother, Mary (Mo’Nique).

But both Gabourey’s and Mo’Nique’s Oscar nominations are quite garnered from their emotional performances.

The rape scenes are hard to watch and the verbal abuse is cutting, but it is in those moments when Precious escapes to her safe places.

Places where she is loved. Really loved.

Here, she opens up the emotions of the movie. “Precious” is heartwrenching, but it pulls on the heartstrings in a much-needed way.

Especially when she cries out, “Love ain’t done nothing for me! Love beat me! Love rape me! Made me feel worthless.”

I found myself sobbing. 

Precious does get a chance to turn her life around when she is invited to attend an alternative school, Each One Teach One.  And for the first time, she speaks aloud in class.

Her teacher, Blue Rain (Paula Patton) asks her how she feels, and Precious responds, “Here. It makes me feel here.” 

I’ll admit that I left the theater touched, and though “Precious” isn’t one of those family movie night films I’ll keep on my shelf, I am thankful I viewed it. 

“Precious” reveals the ugly truth about the world we live in.

This isn’t a make-believe story, but a story that shows real love in those situations that are all too real in our nation.

But the compassion through Ms. Rain, her fellow students, her nurse, John (Lenny Kravitz), and her social worker, Mrs. Weiss (Mariah Carey) brings to light the heart of the movie.

We all just want to be here.

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Travis Cowan

“Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” is not what you would call a feel-good film.

“Precious” is a deeply disturbing view into the life of Clarice Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), an obese, illiterate, 16-year-old mother of two. Precious’ two children, one of whom has Down’s syndrome, are the product of her sexually-abusive, absentee father.

As I was saying, “Precious” is not a feel-good film.

That being said, “Precious” is an immensely powerful film with an incredibly talented cast, the most notable of which is comedian and actress Mo’Nique who plays Precious’s mother Mary.

Mo’Nique’s performance as an abusive and vengeful mother whose troubled life deserves a story of its own is hauntingly believable.

Musicians Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz round out the film’s cast with admirable performances as a welfare agent and male nurse, respectively.

“Precious” contains several dreamscape sequences that are used with a varied degree of quality.

The visual technique is first introduced when Precious escapes to a fantasy world during one of the many rapes committed by her father. The ceiling peels away, and Precious is suddenly on the red carpet escorted by the man of her dreams until a rain shower pulls her back down into reality as she is awakened by an ice-cold bucket of water.

This is unfortunately the only time this visual style thrives, as many of the other attempts seem cramped.

The film also has one incredibly jarring jump in time that never manages to explain itself to any great, excusable degree.

Despite these few yet notable flaws, “Precious” is a film that is, if nothing else, necessary.

A story as dark and, at times, difficult to watch as “Precious” may not be as popular as other films of last year.

But its portrayal of one woman’s impossible struggle against a world seemingly built to destroy her is one of the most important movies to be produced as we move into this new decade.