Precious – directed by Lee Daniels (2009)
It has taken over two years for the video of this movie to reach Blockbuster in Italy and it’s not hard to see why. The characters and story could almost have been beamed in from another planet for all they seem to connect with this country’s ‘normal’ life.
The depiction of sexual, physical and verbal abuse is fairly relentless only lightened by Precious’ fantasies of a more glamourous life on stage and screen. These sequences are a bit heavy-handed and add little to the drama. I suppose they show in some way how she manages to keep her sanity in the family home from hell.
Plenty of critics and viewers have praised the movie for its realism and raw honesty although there can’t be many of these who have lived through such experiences to be able to say whether they are authentic or not.
I only feel able to judge this as a piece of cinema rather than how accurately it represents the catalogue of social diseases: notably obesity, incest, illiteracy and poverty.
As a movie, I was initially fascinated by the sheer physical substance of Gabby” Sidibe in the lead role but never felt drawn in on an emotional level. I felt almost voyeuristic watching her tale of woe and ultimately it felt like watching a freak show than a ‘slice of life’.
That Precious survives her dreadful experiences is miraculous but is only truly heart warming if you choose not to dwell on the thought that there must be countless others who are stuck in such a cycle of negativity and violence with no hope of escape.
