Mariah Carey Connection

Rating: 3 Stars

In Harlem in 1987, Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) is 16, poor, black, illiterate, obese, abused and pregnant with her second child from the same father: hers. Depending on your politics, you’ll either feel sorry for her or want to use her as a poster child for what’s wrong with the “welfare state.”

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” is a movie, so there may be hope for Precious. There’s less hope for Mary (Mo’Nique), her mother, who treats the girl like a slave, beats her and has allowed her to be sexually abused since she was 3 years old. Precious’ daughter Mongo was born with Down syndrome and has been staying with Mary’s mother, but Mary has been collecting welfare for Precious and her child.

(One suspects director Lee Daniels already had this project in mind when he made his debut in 2006 with the flipped-out “Shadowboxer,” which also dealt with violence, incest and race, and featured Mo’Nique as a very different character named Precious.)

The turning point comes when Precious is expelled from public school and the principal refers her to an alternative school, Each One Teach One. There, her teacher, Blue Rain (Paula Patton), brings out her desire and ability to learn. That doesn’t mean Precious is out of the woods—even greater challenges lie ahead, if that’s possible—but she does become better equipped to face them.

Daniels tries not to prettify his Harlem settings, and a tight budget must have helped. The screenplay by Damien Paul doesn’t glamorize the novel, either, although it omits a lot of the graphic sexual detail that leaves the reader far too familiar with Precious’ genitalia and what everyone has done to them.

The novel paints a more vivid picture in some ways, and fleshes out many supporting characters, especially Precious’ classmates. But the movie is faithful to the book in many respects, and the cinematic flashbacks and fantasies (including Lenny Kravitz as the nurse who becomes Precious’ dream man) prove a satisfying substitute for the literary ones.

Although the scene is pretty much taken directly from the book, the climactic confrontation between Precious and Mary in front of social worker Ms. Weiss (Mariah Carey) is calculated to ensure an Oscar nomination for Mo’Nique (which no one will deny she deserves), shifting the spotlight too much from the main character.

The book makes only a casual reference to the fact that Ms. Rain is a lesbian. The movie goes further, briefly introducing her partner, Katherine (Kimberly Russell), and leaving intact the message Precious learns: that it was (in the novel’s words) “not homos who rape me, not homos who let me be ignerent.”

Gabourey Sidibe, a mountain of a girl/woman, so looks the part of Precious it’s hard to tell whether she’s acting or not, although there’s certainly not a false or self-conscious moment in her performance.

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” was only the third film in history to win both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. While white liberal guilt surely had some influence on the voting, it’s an undeniably powerful film that shouldn’t be begrudged any rewards it can get.

Source: Sunday Paper