Hope comes from the dark in ‘Precious’

Director Lee Daniels brings together a stand-up comedian, a newcomer, and Mariah Carey, and takes the best performances to come to screen for a long time. Leading character Precious’s story might be sad, but the movie ‘Precious’ brims with hope


Released less than a week after the Oscars, when you watch Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, you will lose faith in the Academy for honoring Sandra Bullock over Gabourey Sidibe as Best Actress, and then you’ll restore that faith by remembering that the movie won the Best Adapted Screenplay, beating such strong contenders like Up in the Air and District 9.

The feeling you will get after watching Precious is quite similar to what you might feel towards the Academy Awards. How can such a depressing story brim with hope, without falling into the traps of a feel good movie? Precious, the leading character, is an obese black 16-year-old, mothering a child from her drug addict father with another on the way, and living with her abusive mother.

In the first moments we meet Precious, it’s impossible to understand how she’s feeling. The outer shell she has created to cope with the world has turned her face into a mask with no expression. We only get to learn how she’s feeling through her voiceover and the footage of her dreams: on the catwalk, signing autographs, wearing a feather boa, and her dreamy boyfriend picking her up with his bike.



A fest of acting

Then we get to see glimpses of expression in her face as she finds new meaning for her life, the glimmering of a possible light at the end of the tunnel. The hope comes in the form of an alternative school for troubled girls. Precious intuitively realizes that this might be the only possible hope she might get in a life destined for doom. Precious’s teacher, Ms. Rain, and a social worker, Ms. Weiss, probably see that glimpse of hope in her eyes. They see something altogether different than the many girls with problems they see on a regular basis.

Precious is one of those rare movies that everything feels right: the directing, writing, acting and the feeling that stays with you after the movie is over. Director Lee Daniels proves his innate talent in directing actors, taking Oscar-worthy performances from a newcomer and a stand-up comedian. You can’t help but ask the question Oprah asked Sidibe at the Oscars: “Where did that depth come from?”

In her Oscar-winning performance as the chain-smoking, bullying mother, Mo’nique brings an emotional nakedness to a role we haven’t seen for a long time. Mariah Carey as the social worker, Paula Patton as Precious’s teacher, and Lenny Kravitz as the nurse bring so much depth to their supporting roles, the film turns into a fest of acting. Director Daniels casts the most bizarre combination of actors, and touches them with his magic wand.

Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News on 12 March 2010.