Precious

This morning I along with 5 other people went to the 10:20 AM showing of Precious. Although it has been out for a while and it was early in the morning the day before Christmas Eve, I was surprised that so few people were there. I really thought this movie was excellent. It follows the story of a 16 year old girl who lives in a horrible situation in Harlem.

From the above description, one would think this was terribly depressing and in some ways it is but I left the theater with a real feeling of hope and that is the way one should feel when leaving a movie. Every time a person walks into a movie, that person brings along all the experiences that she/he has had. Also, I get much more involved if I can relate to the characters in some way. In this movie, I was able to relate, not personally to the main character, but to situations. I spent one year working for the Department of Social Services or the Welfare Department. In that time, I met people like Precious, her mother and her grandmother. I identified with the social worker. I also spent time working as a monitor for the youth programs of CETA, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. In that job, I interviewed and watched young people who were working very hard trying to get out of the situations they were in, bettering their lives. And I spent the last 25 years of my working life teaching kids who had trouble learning so I certainly could identify with the teacher. Therefore, I came to this movie with a background that would endear me to it.

There were times when I think some might say it went a bit slow. There were times when it was brutal but, in my opinion, much of the brutality was in our minds. We knew these things were happening but the director did an interesting diversion so that we saw little. I do wonder why almost every movie has a scene where someone throws up. This time there was enough foreshadowing so that I could cover my eyes and not see what I find extremely disgusting.

The acting was spectacular. The woman, who played Precious, was entirely believable as was her mother. I was totally ensconced in the story. I felt for every character. I know that sounds strange since some had little redeeming factors but I could see why they were like that. Would everyone like this movie? Probably not. However, I felt it was thought-provoking and will stick with me for a long time.