Born Into
by MEREDITH HIGHT
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
dir. Lee Daniels
109 min.
You should not go see the Tyler Perry/Oprah Winfrey-endorsed movie Precious for the novelty of seeing Mariah Carey sans makeup and Lenny Kravitz sans sunglasses and the sassy comedienne Mo'Nique stripped of any semblance of soul.
You should see Precious because it’s not just a movie about abuse or even triumph; it’s a movie about love that isn't told from the point of view of a helpless victim or a courageous survivor. It is told from the point of view of Precious (Gabourey Sidibe), who is given up on and at times wants to give up herself.
Precious is not just a victim, not just a survivor, not someone who is defined solely by her circumstances. Which yes, are bleak and relentless. But when you define anyone by what they have been born into, by what has been done to them – you are looking past who they are, stifling their spirit and denying their humanity.
Precious avoids this trite and predictable depiction by showing us who Precious is. And Precious is smart. She is funny. She is charismatic. She is strong. She is a good mother. She is loving. She is so much more than we would ever expect her to be.
She is everything she is not supposed to be, because she has been raped and abused and mistreated and kicked around in the streets. She is this person, despite the fact that the very people who are supposed to love her and care for her and protect her have taken advantage of her, in the most despicable of ways.
Oprah and the reviews keep saying what a monster Mo'Nique is in this movie, as Mary, Precious’ hateful and abusive mother. Yes, she is an evil, venomous, and selfish woman. But we see Mary, too, as a person. Someone who wants to know – who will love her? Who will take care of her?
To her detriment and certain demise, Mary never does learn what Precious learns. That you have to be able to look after and love yourself, before love can be given to you. It is Mary's weakness that allows such abuse to nearly define and consume Precious. But it is Precious’ strength, built from within but also through the love of a social worker, teacher and her classmates, that helps her to transcend her situation.
This urban family loves her through her aggression, her mistakes, her education, her triumphs, her failures, the birth of her second baby by her own father. And that is what family does, biological or not; they love you through life.
What this movie does differently is show us that Precious deserves this love. And that it’s possible for her to receive this love even though her own family has failed her so miserably. The film is all the more compelling because this love does not arrive in the form of a romantic relationship.
Throughout we witness distinctly original cinematic sequences: the dark humor and richly powerful scenes of Precious’ imaginary flights that allow her to remove herself from the present moment. The very moments when she is being beat up, forced to perform sexual acts on her own mother, or when she is being raped by her father as he says “Daddy loves you.”
When Precious arrives in the classroom and begins writing, her teacher asks her, how do you feel now?
I feel here, she says. I feel here. That is the beginning of her story.
Meredith Hight is the senior contributor to This Recording. She is a writer living in Los Angeles. She tumbls here.
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