Review of Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (2009) by Luis V — 26 Nov 2011

A depressing, yet powerful journey! Precious is a girl that has gone through hell itself. She has been raped by his father, had a baby and now she is pregnant with her second child. Even do she is 16 years old, she can't read nor write. Her household is a mess and her mother treats her like a piece of soap, seriously. Precious has a chance to improve herself on an alternative school in which she learns that she is not alone. As the film progresses we see that Precious learns how to mature and to improve her personal life even do is grim.

This is a film about persistence. This is a film of how to deal with the unthinkable, when times are tough, when no gives you a helping hand. The character Precious represents the rejected society, the people that society doesn't believe they will progress. Precious is loved by no one, not even her own mother which she believes she stole her husband. Precious constantly escapes from reality in order to endure the pain. Is like every one of us having this dream but is sadly crushed by the factors from real life. I praise the acting of this movie. All performances are jaw dropping! Mary Lee Johnson, played by Monique, is one of the greatest female villains of I have ever seen due to her complexity. When Precious returns to her mom's apartment with the second child, she is like sitting in a chair calmly. She asks Precious to see the baby in a gentle manner, Precious giver her mother the baby. She takes the baby and then she throws the baby to the ground. That's just one of the cruellest things a person can do. This villain is manipulative towards everyone, especially Precious, she makes her lie towards the social workers, her teacher, the doctors up the bowling point that she can't take it anymore. When she screams to her teacher that nobody loves her, those tears in her eyes, it just wants you to make you get in the movie and give her a big hug. The cinematography works great on this movie, especially on the scene in which Precious is top on the stairs and her mother screaming how worthless she is. It shows how Precious still fights for her freedom. Is an analysis of how the self-esteem can be destroyed, but still persist against the grim factors of reality.

Now what I didn't like about this movie? The film lacked substance in the supporting characters, especially with the doctor that gives kindness to Precious. The film looked like a documentary, and the problem with that is there were some scenes gone too slow and boring. Not saying that the film is bad, it's that why can't they stop making them too real? The character Precious makes some fatal decisions in the movie like taking care of his two children while she has no money. How is she going to take care of her children while she is only learning of how to take care of herself? Now the dialogue in this movie wasn't so deep and enlighten as it should have been. Not saying is bad, it's just that is not as good as many people are saying. It's just that we have heard it before and I was expecting something else.

The film was directed by Lee Daniels. He directed Shadowboxer, produced The Woodsman, Mosnter's Ball, Shadowboxer and Tennessee. Now it seems that his films deal with pedophilia and the consequences on their victims. I think he portrays this perfectly in the film Precious. Believe it or not Tyler Perry was one of the producers of this film, so he has a good project in his career of bad and tasteless comedy movies. The film was based on the novel Push by Sapphire. I believe that the novel is better than the film but hey that is the case with most film adaptations. The film was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, which won two for Best Supporting Actress (Monique) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Now if you a guy whom loves to see really Oscar-worthy movies then this is the film for you. Now this film is not for kids since it portrays graphic depiction of sexual violence and real bad language like if Tony Montana was in this movie. If you like films about the grim reality, and how to deal with it then I recommend this film for you. If you don't like sad, melodrama movies then don't watch it because you might get bored with it.