Precious

Daniels, L. (Director/Producer). (2009). Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” [Motion picture]. United States: Lionsgate.

Why watch this film

Feeling a little low? Needing a bit of inspiration? Meet Precious. She’s probably got a lot more difficulties going on than you, but she keeps on keeping on.

Plot summary

Precious is a poor, obese 16-year-old who lives with her abusive mother in Harlem. She’s pregnant with her second child, both by her own father, and her school expels her. Her principal arranges for her to attend an alternative school, and there her teacher, Ms. Rain, believes in the power of writing to redeem her students. The film follows Precious as she delivers her second baby, confronts her mother’s abuse, and moves on with her life.

Critical evaluation

I find it very interesting that the current film season will be remembered by tens of millions of white teenage girls as the season of New Moon and by millions of black teenage girls as the season of Precious. This reality demonstrates one of the blessings of being black in this country. New Moon is a wretched model for young women (see my earlier review) that romanticizes a 17-year-old whose identity revolves around not one but two men who don’t know if they can refrain from assaulting her. Precious, on the other hand, centralizes the horror of real abuse and shows us a young woman who rises above it.

It’s not that Precious doesn’t have some romantic notions of her own. When life is at its most difficult she escapes to a fantasy world where she’s a star surrounded by adoring fans and handsome men. Precious turns Hollywood’s romanticism to good use; if I thought all of New Moon’s viewers were doing the same I wouldn’t be so opposed to the film.

It’s unfortunate that Precious doesn’t do a better job of showing us precisely how Precious manages to transcend her fate. The explanation offered is the intervention of her teacher, Ms. Rain, who forces her students to write, thus opening the possibilities of real relationships between the teens and the adult, and who is able to provide the love and support that her students need once they have opened up. That’s well and good, but the film falls short of Siobhan Dowd’s Solace of the Road or Alex Sanchez’s Bait in laying out step by step what is going on in the mind of a protagonist who experiences a life-altering transformation. Perhaps the novel Push, which I haven’t read, does better than the film on this count.

It could be said that New Moon rises above its heritage of females standing by their men by creating male demons who are not simply evil. The fact that they both know they are a danger to the object of their desire is progress of a kind. But, again, Precious goes much further in showing that even the most unsympathetic of characters may indeed deserve our sympathy. When Precious’s mother finally comes clean in the social worker’s office, revealing how she justified her treatment of Precious, we realize that she has a story that deserves hearing as well. Fortunately, Precious decides to break the cycle of abuse by walking away from her mother, no matter how sympathetic she might have become.

About the director/producer

Lee Daniels is an African American born in Philadelphia in 1959. He moved to Los Angeles in his early twenties, initially developing a placement agency for nurses before working in films. He has produced Monster’s Ball (2002), The Woodsman (2005), and Tennessee (2007). In addition to Precious, he directed Shadowboxer (2005) (Snodgrass, n.d.).

Genre: African American, Crossover, Film, Life is hard

Curriculum ties

It would be interesting to show Precious to students for whom school as we do it has not been a success in an effort to surface their frustrations with the educational system. Then you could ask them to write about their feelings …

Film-talking ideas

Because of its R rating, it is unlikely that librarians would feature Precious in a school library collection or in the teen collection of a public library, and therefore it would probably not be the subject of a film talk.

Viewing level/interest age

The film’s R rating means that only teens over 17 can legally see it without an adult. I imagine that many younger teens have seen it, either with an adult or on their own, and that it is especially powerful among African American teenagers and teens who are overweight.

Challenge issues

Again, the film’s R rating makes it unlikely that librarians would include it in a school library or a teen collection in a public library, so challenges should be anticipated in terms of adults objecting to its inclusion in general film collections. The rape scene and other child abuse is painful to watch but not sensationalized. Possibly challenges would arise from a misguided objection to a film that portrays a child on welfare as a heroine.

Responses

• Remind the challenger of the policy (in the case of the San Francisco Public Library) to present “all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

• Remind the challenger of the critical acclaim the film has received.

Why I chose to view this film

When I heard about Precious, I realized that many of the African American high school girls who read Whore would probably also be seeing the film, and I wanted to see how the two compare, especially in terms of their portrayals of violence and child abuse.

References

Snodgrass, M. E. (n.d.). Lee Lewis Daniels. Answer.com. Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://www.answers.com/topic/lee-louis-daniels