Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Directed by: Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe

***1/2

Even though the title is stupid, this is not a stupid movie. Its powerful, dynamic, intense, smartly made and a strange sort of entertaining. Any amount of realism that the story may obtain only increases these traits of the film. But do these traits make a great movie? They make a very good one, but I'm not sure that Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (I'll stop calling it that) is a great movie.

Gabourey Sidibe plays Precious who's life is so bad that the film loses all elements of surprise when introducing a new horror she's forced to face at such a young age. She's pregnant with her second child given to her by her own father and is forced to deal with the daily physical and emotional abuse by her mother (Monique in a well deserved award winning role). There isn't much else within the story. We escape the horrors of her life with Precious as she imagines herself a celebrity or the center of attention, a beautiful woman with a great life. These dreams hide us from the terrible things she's forced to endure and from a storytelling standpoint, they are a very effective way of creating a kind of suspense. To come right out and show us what happens to Precious would not only be hard to watch but additionally, it'd tell us everything. By allowing us to keep watching and not having to look away, we also are forced to let our imaginations describe what has happened to Precious... that can be much more tragic or, we can imagine her life the way Precious does and escape it all.

I appreciated the style Lee Daniels used in this film. He didn't go with filmmaking 101 even though he could have. He had a powerful enough story to carry itself but he added his own touch and gave it an original feeling both in the way its shot and the way the stories unfold. There's nothing spetacular but there's not a lot that is routine. His work isn't without flaws however and it mostly comes down the the story he's telling. I've read that certain people consider the film to be emotionally inconsistent and I understand and agree with that to a point. Often times, very dark and disturbing movies don't stop hammering its audience with one horrible thing after another but in those cases we are given characters who put them in the position to receive such punishment. Precious has done nothing to deserve all the problems she has and its admirable to see her deal with them the way she does and its powerful to see more and more problems mount for her but there is only so much an audience can take. Realism is a dangerous line to walk with films. You can be realistic without casting away your audience because they don't want to see anymore and Precious teaters on that line a bit too much.

Everything having been said, the film that Precious is comes down to the two main performances by Sidibe and Monique. Both are so good and so emotionally on que the whole movie that they create the drama, the suspence and the dynamic quality that this film possesses. Without great performances this movie would come across as not only weak but perhaps unsympathetic. It took Oscar quality work from these two (two unseasoned actresses) to give this movie the strength it needed to get away with the subject matter.

As good as these performances were and as much as they made the film what it was, its easy to give them credit. As I mentioned, I really respected the decisions that Daniels made even though I didn't always agree with or understand some of them. There was a lot about the story that went left alone and at times I wondered how I felt about it. A film so detailed and true to the drama of domestic abuse and social services, it seemed awfully easy for Precious to get sole custody of her children but that's a completely different story. The film picked and chose its battles and I think it chose wisely enough to compile a powerful and strange sort of entertaining film.