Features > Movie Reviews > Precious…

It was hastily retitled to ensure that (a) no one would confuse it with that trashy Chris Evans-Dakota Fanning ESP movie, and (b) the teen fans of Sapphire’s novel would still be able to pick it out at the multiplex, Lee Daniels’ film has since gone on to make serious money at the box office and now seems a very solid bet for at least one Academy Award: Mo’Nique for best supporting actress.

Claireece Precious Jones (newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) is an African-American teenager growing up in Harlem. At first glance she’s a mess, even a lost cause. At 16 she’s illiterate, significantly overweight, and pregnant with her second child – both fathered by her own father. But she’s not stupid. Despite her less than stellar school record, her teachers see glimmers of promise. Suspending her because of the pregnancy, the principal arranges for Precious to attend an alternative school, where she comes under the wing of Ms Rain (Paula Patton), whose warmth and dedication begin to make a difference to the young girl. But her real problems aren’t in the classroom. They’re not even with her father, who no longer lives with them. It’s her mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), who is the most vicious abuser…

It mixes brutal realism with kitsch fantasy sequences: to escape from her traumas, Precious imagines herself a star, the toast of the town (and pretty, thin, and white). It also mixes an indie sensibility and unknown actors with several established stars from other fields: Mo’Nique is known as a comedian in the US; Mariah Carey strips off the diva-paint to play a social worker; and Lenny Kravitz is a male nurse who flirts with Precious in hospital. All give credible performances, with Mo’Nique really piling it on as “momma dearest”, a woman who’ll purposely drop a baby to make a point, and who dumps a TV set on her own daughter for an encore.

Director Lee Daniels was a male nurse himself once upon a time, before he became a casting director, talent manager and latterly producer (Monster’s Ball; The Woodsman). His first film as director, Shadowboxer, starred Helen Mirren as a dying assassin and Cuba Gooding Jr as her stepson and lover – a movie that sounds trashy but potent.

That is also one way of looking at Precious, which is crude in its filmmaking – Daniels might as well have directed with a shovel and a hardhat – but which shows us aspects of American life that Hollywood has by and large ignored, and which no shortage of African-Americans have come forward to validate (among them, of course, Oprah Winfrey, who signed on as a producer after the Sundance prize).

It’s a very Oprah, very Obama movie. It acknowledges real problems, and promises hope through progressive social intervention, through concerned welfare, medical and education professionals, each of whom builds up Claireece’s bruised and battered self-esteem and motivates her to help herself. (Here’s a catchy alternative title: “Yes We Can!”)

Copious narration in Claireece’s naïve voice reminds us of that the story started out as a teen novel, and the movie shares the sometimes simplistic, bluntly prescriptive attributes of that brand of fiction.

You won’t find shades of grey in the characterizations, and the middle class characters (especially Patton?s lesbian teacher) are almost too good to be true, but then it is true there are many good people out there in these professions, and the performances are so strong they come charged with a fierce conviction. Mo’Nique gets the scalding dramatic scenes, but Gabourey Sidibe is also impressive as the hulking teenager. It would be hard not to be moved as her stoic, carefully self-protective demeanour gradually cracks open to reveal her true face.