Precious (2009)

“Why would anyone care about a poor, 300-pound, uneducated black girl as dark as night?,” Lee Daniels rhetorically asked in indieWIRE’s pre-Sundance profile. “The answer to this question is what this film is ultimately about.”

- from the Eugene Hernandez indiewire.com article.

Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, is set in 1987 Harlem, “pre-gentrification” (Village Voice). It follows the story of Precious Jones, a 16 year old girl still in the 9th grade and pregnant with her father’s child for the second time. I screened the film at the Chicago International Film Festival, in the AMC River East theater. The director was Lee Daniels, who also produced Monster’s Ball (2001). It was produced by Tyler Perry, known for his comedies. It was the resources and influence of Perry (and Oprah) that likely brought this film into existence, as Daniels’ previous work was met with little critical praise. Precious won the Audience and Grand Jury Prizes at Sundance as well as the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The novel was written from Precious’s perspective, and used the phonetics of her Harlem vernacular English. This was alluded to in the film during the credits, which presented the titles and names in both her form of writing and in mainstream English. It is revealed in the film that Precious is almost completely illiterate, although in 9th grade.

The film brings up a multitude of contrasts, revelations and reminders. I, like many of my generation I suppose, forget how different the urban / suburban dichotomy was 20 years ago. Now urban centers are very different, the place to be is in the center, not in the circling rings. The decay and danger associated with inner city areas populated by those who could not afford to leave for the suburban paradises sprouting all around has now been reversed. HIV/AIDS, another hot issue in the 1987 setting, is again something my generation has lost sight of. The virus, though still pandemic, has left the spotlight it once had in the public consciousness. More than this, I think the film reminds us of the human ability to adjust to the worst of circumstances as well as our ability to overcome them.

“You’re 16, you’re still in junior high school, and you’re pregnant with your second child. Is this correct?”

This is how we are introduced to Precious’s situation, after she is called out of her math class to see the principal. The principal seems exasperated with Precious, who returns her attitude in spades. The principal and her math teacher are the only two white characters in the film, and Precious’s interactions with them are telling. She fantasizes about her math teacher, seeing him as perfect (she also introduces herself as wanting “a light skinned boyfriend with good hair”) and claiming he “knows I’ve got his back,” hoping he’ll leave his white wife and marry her. They’ll “live in some place like Westchester,” Precious muses. When Precious seeks refuge from reality, it is often in a dream sequence wherein she is a glamorous star with a boyfriend in tow or a blonde white woman with Hollywood curls. Precious is told by her mother she is worthless, and so in her fantasy world she is not only draped in silk and diamonds but as different from herself as physically possible.

Her principal, with Precious’s best interests in mind, comes to her home after suspending her in hopes of getting her to begin attending an alternative education program. This is when we meet Precious’ mother (Mo’Nique), who reacts angrily to the suggestion that Precious is good at math or should pursue school. Precious tries to shoo off her principal with her mother screaming “get rid of that white bitch”  in her ear, but she picks up the necessary information: the name and location of the alternative school. From here we meet the whole new world which carries Precious through her personal transformation. The teacher, Ms. Rain, and her classmates come to be like a surrogate family for Precious, re-teaching her the concept of love and human decency outside of her intensely abusive home life. The weight of what works against Precious is immense, and as a viewer I was overwhelmed each time some new horror of her life is revealed. Precious herself, however, pushes through. Her ability to succeed in circumstances many would find beyond hope is the truly uplifting message of this film. As she tells her social worker (played by Mariah Carey) at the end of the film, while she breaks out in tears hearing Precious’s mother beg for the return of her daughter while accounting how she grew to hate her, “You can’t handle this. You can’t handle none of this.” But by the end, Precious, picking up her daughter and leaving her mother behind, knows she can.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/eugene_hernandez_precious_1_million_or_100_million/

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/01/less_money_fewe.php

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