OK, I am a bit late to the party on this, but hear me out.  This DVD presently sits on my Television stand, 3 nights overdue.  Not because I couldn’t bear to part with it, not even because I’ve been too lazy to return it.  No it sits there because I was too afraid to watch it. 

Everyone I spoke to told me to “have the tissues handy”, or to “not expect a happy ending” and even that “It’s so damn depressing, you’ll be quite unsocial able for a while”.  So, with that in mind, I found it increasingly hard over the weekend to put that disc into the DVD player and press play.

Fittingly though, yesterday I had one of those migraines that permeate your skull and if you don’t reach for the Panadol in time, you get knocked onto your back quicker than Australia can change Prime Ministers.  That being the case, I decided I was in just the right frame of mind to take on Precious.

Precious has been adapted for the big screen from the novel “Push” by Sapphire.  It has been Produced and Directed by Lee Daniels (Monsters Ball (P) and Shadowboxer).  Basically, this low budget film with only a handful of well-known actors, blew the audiences away at both the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.  Having the support and help of one Ms Oprah Winfrey certainly helped this film, originally named Push, to be recognised and succeed.

So what was behind this film bringing in over $62 million US dollars worldwide?  The only two well known actors in this movie are Mo’Nique and Mariah Carey.  And let’s face it; Mariah Carey and actor are two words you rarely hear uttered in the same sentence without a snigger.  I think the secret to its success, straight up, was that it was just a great story with powerful acting. Full stop.  No fireworks, no explosions and no multi-million dollar paycheques for big name actors.  That and the fact you physically want to put your hand through the screen and slap Mary, Precious' mother played by Mo'Nique.

The movie revolves around 16 year old Claireece "Precious" Jones, played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe.  Gabourey admits herself that she nearly didn’t audition for the role of Claireece, and only due to the fact that a pesky movie was being filmed on the side of the road that would normally take her to college for the day, did she see it as a sign, and in turn, make the trek uptown to try out for the part.

Precious is an obese, illiterate, African-American 16 year old girl who lives with her mother in Harlem.  They are painfully poor and the sadness of the situation envelopes you the minute she steps back into her home after a day at school.

A series of events lead to Precious being expelled from school.  She’s not a bad kid; she’s just a victim of circumstance.  Her school principal organises an alternative school for her – Each One-Teach One. 

It is here, at this school, under the love and guidance of a very special teacher Blu Rain (Paula Patton) and a motley crew of classmates, that Precious starts to understand how wrong her life has been.  She realises how unfairly she has been treated and how the abuse she has been suffering through, is anything but OK. 

Remember Mariah?  I mentioned her earlier.  Now, straight up, I wasn’t even aware she was in this movie, so when I noticed a social worker named Miss Weiss; there was something familiar about her.  I wondered to myself if it was Mariah Carey, but then internally argued that this woman looked like such complete shit, it just couldn’t be her.   But it was.  Just sans makeup.  Director Lee Daniels made it abundantly clear to Mariah that she wasn’t to wear a skerrick of makeup.  In fact, to add insult to injury, extra dark circles were pencilled in under her eyes.   And can I say, she was amazing.  It’s like Glitter never happened.  OK, that’s taking it too far, but in all fairness, Mariah shone more in this movie than in all of her very shiny film clips combined.  Miss Weiss, as her social worker/welfare officer, also plays a big role in helping Precious find her way out of the mire.

The thing with Precious is that the minute you lay eyes on her, you start to make assumptions.  She is incredibly large, not attractive, very sulky and intermittently violent.  But I liken it to when you meet someone in real life.  Sometimes you wish you had stopped at just being acquaintances and others you stop forgetting who they are or what they look like and begin to love and admire them for what is on the inside.  That’s how I felt about Precious.  It’s sounds naff, but the more I learned about her life, got to know her personality and found out how brave she was, the more I liked her and found her incredibly beautiful.

The end of movie for Precious certainly doesn’t bring her or you, the viewer, closure.  She does however, at least remove herself from a situation so sad and so incredibly unbelievable, you will feel somehow better and at peace knowing her life is nowhere near as cruel as it was at the beginning of the film.

This film and its actors were nominated for almost every major award in 2009-2010 and rightly so.  I think everyone should see this movie.  However, choose your timing carefully and turn up the volume because at times it was hard to hear and decipher. 

Precious – out for hire and sale on DVD and Blu-Ray.